Esthenia V- Part 6

Esthenia V- Part 6

Part Six- Her Satisfaction


The Dark Days Begin

The sun did not rise that morning. They wondered why, but I knew. Tswuki Mona had already begun her threat. Three days left. That was all we had before the goddess of death would reign down upon the humans and myself. It was impossible to even believe that we could pull it off in that amount of time. However, being only one island away from our destination, the journey was over. All that was left was the plan and putting that plan into action.
Robert stated that saving Esthenia would be a breeze once we got inside and took a hold of the controls, but getting his associates to leave would be the hard part. Though Robert was more than willing to leave, he wasn’t sure that the others would give in so easily.
“They put millions into this project.” he said. “I doubt that they’ll pack their bags and go. They’ll want to at least take everything back with them…”
“We’ll take care of that if we have to.” I told him. “If they value their lives then they’ll know enough to do as we say.”
“I don’t have problem with that.” Tex grinned while cracking his knuckles.
“I’m sure you don’t.” I smiled up at him. I then looked back at Robert. “You say that all we need to do is capture their control room?”
“That’s right.” Robert nodded, looking thoughtful. “However… All the doors and exits require a password. They probably changed them in case I ever tried to break back in.”
“Why don’t we just break the door down then?” Tex asked, making a fist and punching into his other hand.
“Yeah… and set off every alarm in the facility…” Robert frowned.
“So you say that they have alarms too?” I asked while grinning a little. “Wow… your friends are paranoid aren’t they?”
“You can say that.” Robert sighed. “And there are cameras on top of that…”
Tex just let out a hiss and turned away. It was obvious that he was getting annoyed by all of this. Though he knew very well that we needed to be careful, it still clashed with his style because Tex’s way of entering a building is through a wall.
I glanced up to see Nagiko staring out into the horizon. He looked extremely thoughtful, making me wonder what was going on inside his head. Perhaps he was wondering why the sky was still so dark.
With it’s rocky terrain, series of caves, and a point high enough to see every speck of land for miles, we decided to make this island our base. From the high point, we got a slight view of the next island over where Esthenia was supposedly being held. That high point was where Nagiko was sitting at that moment. I had a feeling that somehow, he was staring at the lab, wondering about her. Like me, he appeared to be very nervous when she wasn’t within eyesight.
Meanwhile, Tex and Robert where still arguing about how we were going to get inside.
“Tex,” Robert was saying, “We can’t just barge in like that!”
“And why not?” Tex growled. “If they send more hunters after us I’ll just step on them!”
“You know that isn’t allowed!”
I suddenly had an idea.
“Hold up a minute!” I said, making them turn their attention to me. I then turned back to Nagiko. “Nagi,” I asked him. “You can turn back into a dog am I correct?”
Nagiko nodded.
“Great!” I grinned. “Okay then… here’s the plan…”
* * * * * * *

The wind was suddenly cold. Umie shivered and covered her nose with her hand. Her senses were still a bit hazy from the toxins the humans sprayed in the air when they captured her. Luckily, it did not affect the one who saved her. She still could not believe what had happened. It was rare for her to let her guard down so easily. Perhaps it was because of him- the one she almost killed, but for some reason could not do it. Now she found herself face to face with somebody else.
“How did you find me?”
For a moment, Torrik was silent. He looked neither thoughtful nor confused. His face was covered in shadow from the white hooded cape he wore. Umie wondered what he was hiding under there. For some reason, he didn’t look the same as she remembered.
“Ever since you came back to this time, they’ve been tracking you.” He finally replied. “They wanted to capture and mutate you too. So I made sure that wasn’t going to happen.”
“You mean to say that you were the one following me?”
“I meant every word.”
“But, why didn’t you tell me?” Umie growled.
“To ensure your safety I could not allow myself to be seen by anyone. I’m sorry.” He then sighed and glanced up at the cloudy sky. “It seems as though this part of the world is tainted.” He said. “Not even the sun will shine today.”
Umie glanced up too to see that the sky was still dark though it was probably morning. She had a feeling that it was also the reason why it was so cold. Either way, she now realized that it had begun. Those dark days that she’d seen throughout every day of her life back in her own time.
“What will I do now?” she found herself asking.
“You can do what you like.” Torrik replied while turning away. “I’ve waited long enough.”
“What are you going to do then?” she asked him with a frown. “You haven’t even told me about your situation here. And where’s Esthenia?”
“Esthenia…” he said, now sounding somber. Though he did not show that he was sad, Umie could hear it in his voice. “She was captured by the humans… And transformed into a monster.”
“So it’s true then! He wasn’t lying when he said that to me!” Umie exclaimed while standing up. Her heart was pounding, remembering the first time she met Pagasis back at the village. She remembered that he told her Esthenia had been captured, and that he was out looking for her.
“Who wasn’t lying?” Torrik asked, looking at her over his shoulder.
“Pagasis… The first time we met he told me what had happened to her.” Umie whimpered, suddenly feeling stupid. “I understand now…”
Torrik let out a small laugh.
“So he is looking for her…” he grinned. “Good… I suppose he could use some company then…”
“Wait! What are you going to do!?” Umie cried.
“Well… are you coming?” Torrik asked her, apparently ignoring her question.
Umie let out a sigh and lowered her head. Staring at her feet, she made up her mind. She nodded.
“Let’s go…”
* * * * * * *

“So we have three days left…” Robert said thoughtfully.
“Yup…”
“So… do you think we should prepare ourselves?”
“What’s there to prepare?” Tex asked sluggishly. “We can’t do anything until that dog guy contacts us right?”
“I feel bad about sending him over there by himself…” Robert sighed, staring out into the ocean. He looked worried.
“He’ll be fine.” I assured him. “Once he gets over there, it’ll be a breeze for him to hide. Besides… if he does get captured… that’ll be a good thing.”
“Yeah…” Robert smiled. “I guess you’ve got a point there.”
“It’s a good thing those humans still think he’s an ordinary dog.” Tex said.
“Yup… good thing.”
There was a moment of silence. None of us liked waiting around like this. Though it would only take a few hours for Nagiko to make it to the island, we still had to wait for his signal. Depending on how tight their security was, it could take him quite a while to slip inside unnoticed.
“Hey… I just thought about something…” Robert suddenly said, looking extremely thoughtful now.
“What’s that?” I asked.
“Well… remember last night when we were about to be attacked again?” he asked.
Tex and I nodded.
“Well… That other light… the one that stopped her. Who or what do you suppose that was?”
“Don’t ask me.” Tex shrugged. “I hardly even know this Esthenia girl let alone anyone else.”
“I don’t really know anyone either, but it kind of makes you wonder.” Robert said. “It couldn’t have been the guys from the lab… Why would they attack her if she was carrying out orders?”
“You’ve got a point there.” Tex said, now showing a bit of interest. He scratched his chin. “What about that other experiment? You know, the one that escaped?”
“You think it could have been?” Robert asked, now looking a bit terrified.
From that point on, their words drowned away in my head. My mind suddenly went back to the night before when all hell broke loose and everything came from all around. It was hard to believe that the other one attacking Esthenia was “Experiment 02”. Surely he wouldn’t turn on the woman he loved.
“Torrik…”
“Who?”
I turned to see both Robert and Tex staring at me. Feeling kind of dumb that I drifted off like that, I let out a deep sigh. There was no sense in keeping it in any longer.
“By now, it’s quite obvious that the other experiment is Castirio’s brother.” I explained. “He may have been the one who attacked her last night…”
“He wouldn’t!” Tex growled. “What makes you so sure that the other experiment is Torrik?”
“We hadn’t seen him or heard from him since his disappeared.” I frowned. “If he escaped, he would have to lay low for a while. He’s fast, but if he was caught once before, then it could very well happen again.”
Tex and Robert both let out a murmur.
That’s when it happened again. My ears twitched to a beeping sound and Robert’s chest pocket was flashing again.
“Oh great!” he exclaimed through clenched teeth while pulling out the radar. “Here she comes again!”
* * * * * * * *

Lightside Emerges

We should have known it was going to happen again. This time we were ready. Instead of trying to fight her off or talk, we came up with a plan to capture her. It was a good idea, but very difficult to pull off considering that we had only one chance.
I turned to Robert and Tex and nodded.
At that moment, Tex spread his wings and leapt up into the trees above while Robert disappeared into a cave.
I waited a moment before taking off through the trees. I could feel her coming closer as I ran. We knew by then that I was the one she was after. Though we still didn’t know why they were after only certain Guardians, it was obvious that me and Umie were their next targets. I thought of her as I ran, praying that she was okay.
I glanced over my shoulder to see something behind me for just a split second. Forcing myself to grin and bear it, I had to keep running, no matter how badly I wanted to stop. This plan had to work.
Suddenly, a pair of green eyes appeared in front of my face and I was forced to jump back before my head was sliced off. She landed in front of me and lunged again. I had no choice but to dodge her attack and keep going.
“Woa that was close!” I gasped as I took off full speed ahead. It didn’t work. No more than five seconds later, she was in front of me again. That’s when I realized that there was a minor setback. “Great!” I snorted while running in the other direction. “I should have known that she was going to be faster than me!”
“That’s not a problem…”
“What the hell?”
Suddenly everything was a blur. I could feel that somebody had a hold of my arm. This whole scene seemed familiar to me. It wasn’t until we stopped when I realized what had happened. For some reason, I wasn’t at all surprised to see who stood in front of me.
“Torrik…”
He grinned and nodded.
“Oh-oh…” I sighed after hearing something behind us.
Torrik nodded again and grabbed a hold of my arm once more.
“So… where are we going?” he asked me.
I gave him directions as we continued darting along the trees and rocks. I didn’t have much time to explain my plan to him before we arrived at our destination.
We were now at the mouth of a cave, waiting for her to emerge from the trees. We waited in silence before we heard a rustle in the underbrush. My heart was racing as she came walking out.
Her blank, cold expression showed that she didn’t have a care in the world as she stood there for a moment, leering at us like a predator eyeing her prey. I was the prey, as a matter of fact.
“Now!”
At that moment, there was the sound of a gun blast as she was knocked off her feet. Hissing and growling, she struggled to get the net off her body, but it just tangled her up even more.
Robert climbed down and stood next to me with the smoking weapon still in his hands. He looked very shaken, but still serious. That was when he saw Torrik standing next to me, but before he could open his mouth to say anything, he was interrupted by the roaring screams of the captured experiment.
That was when she started to use her claws and began hacking away at the net. Then that burning scent reached my nose. We anticipated that she’d try to use her poison.
“Now Tex!” I shouted.
Tex nodded and raised the huge bazooka.
“He’s got the KO gas nets in that thing!” Robert warned, looking very tense now. “You might want to cover your noses!”
Knowing that Robert had a point, we did as we were told as Tex pulled the trigger.
The shell hit her hard and burst open, releasing another net and a horrible smelling gas. Before we knew it, the sounds subsided and everything was silent.
“It worked!” Robert exclaimed. He walked out and kneeled next to the now sleeping Darkside Venum. “I can’t believe these actually worked.”
“It was a cleaver idea.” I said to him. “I’m glad your plan worked…”
“It almost didn’t.” Torrik sighed.
“Who are you anyway?” Robert finally asked him.
Torrik just stared at him until Tex opened his mouth.
“Torrik!” he exclaimed, looking as though he could hardly believe his eyes. “Is that really you?”
Torrik nodded. He then turned over to Esthenia, who was lying still on the ground wrapped in the nets.
“I suspect that you know how to change her back?” he asked, while glancing at Robert.
“Yes.” Robert nodded. “We’re gonna have to get her out of there first.”
“Right.” I nodded while kneeling down. As I started to lift up the nets, Torrik went to the other side and lifted her up so I could unwrap her completely. “Thanks.” I said to him. “Come on, let’s go inside…”
“So, I’m curious…” I finally said after sitting down. “Where have you been all this time?”
Torrik lay Esthenia down and kneeled beside her. Tex and Robert followed us inside. Robert sat at a distance while Tex stood by the entrance, still staring at Torrik with wide eyes.
“I must say Pagasis…” Torrik murmured. “I’m surprised you didn’t know…”
“I’m not a complete mind reader.” I snorted.
“Indeed…” Torrik nodded. “I suppose you already know that I was captured. From that point I escaped and have been in hiding, waiting to make a move.”
“That’s it?” Robert blurted out. “You hid? That’s all you did while we ran around looking for you?”
“That is not all.” Torrik said dryly, glancing at Robert. “You know more than any of us about what you humans are capable of. Just look at her… and now they’re after you.” He said to me. “And that isn’t all…”
“They’re after Umie too I presume.” I nodded. “Yes, I already know that.”
“I do not know when she returned to us, but I’ve been keeping an eye on her for as long as I could.” Torrik grinned. “Now I leave her safety up to you.”
“Shut up will you!” a voice echoed from the back of the cave.
Letting out a gasp, I quickly stood up as Umie stepped from the shadows. She looked pissed above all, but didn’t attack.
“Umie…”
“Yeah…” she shrugged. “I’m here too…” she then cast a glare at Torrik and me. “But I can take care of myself! Got it!”
“No problem.” I found myself smile. Perhaps I was just glad that she wasn’t going to shoot me again.
She let out a hiss and glanced away while folding her arms across her chest.
“Whatever…”
“Okay… so what do we do with her now?” Tex asked anxiously while staring down at Esthenia. “What if she wakes up?”
“Robert…” I said. “You said you knew how to handle this?”
“Yes.” Robert nodded. He then stood up and kneeled down next to Torrik, who watched with interest as he felt around the back of her neck and head. “Here it is…” Robert sighed after his right hand found something behind her right ear. There was a dull clicking sound and Esthenia jerked, making Robert jump to his feet and back away.
Torrik stood up too, but did not move from there. He watched in horror as his love continued convulsing until she finally stopped and begun to slowly transform until she looked almost normal again.
She was in a different outfit; a black skirt with a hooded top, and her large metal wings melted away along with the large blades on her arms.
“How is that possible?” Tex gasped as he too watched in confusion. “Everything is disappearing…”
“And you said that science could not compare with magic…” I awed. “Robert… how did you and your friends accomplish something like this?”
“I-I didn’t…” Robert gasped. “This is strange… even science cannot cause such a transformation like this…”
“They must have somehow learned how to use magic.” Torrik hissed, he now looked somewhat pissed. He then glared up at Robert. “I swear that whoever did this to her is going to pay…”
Robert didn’t say anything to that. He just stared back looking deeply sad. I had a feeling that he felt guilty for everything that had happened to her. He knew that Torrik was her lover. He could tell by the look he received and how Torrik delicately held her like she was the most fragile thing in the world. I felt sorry for him, for his guilt, and all of us had a little to share.
“So what’s the plan?” Umie asked, breaking the silence. “Surely we have to find a way to stop the humans right?”
“We already found a way to get inside.” I said to her. “After that we’ve got to capture the control room.”
“I hope you know what you’re doing.” She sighed, looking extremely thoughtful. “We all know what these humans are capable of… It’s obvious that they’re using magic now. Don’t you think that makes them a lot more powerful?”
“As dumb as that sounds…” Robert nodded. “You are very correct. They were brilliant before… but now that they’re using something like that. Well… you could imagine what they might have in store for us.”
“It’s nothing that we can’t handle.” Tex smiled confidently. “Now that we’ve captured their experiments.”
“Yes, we’ll see.” I said, still keeping my eyes on Esthenia, who lay in front of me. There was an unsure feeling about the situation. Perhaps I feared her waking up. Would she still attack, or was she actually in her right mind now? It was odd, wondering what was going on inside her head at that moment. For the first time since I’ve known her, I didn’t have a single clue.
“T-torrik…”
My heart suddenly started to rapidly thud in my chest as I saw those green eyes slightly flutter then slowly open.
Torrik let out a gasp and dropped to his knees beside her. He lifted her hand and held it tightly.
“Esthenia…” he murmured. “Are you okay?”
It took her a moment before she even realized that somebody was speaking to her. She blankly stared at him before saying anything.
“Torrik?”
Torrik nodded, trying his best to hold himself in. He looked as though he were about to burst into tears or something. It wasn’t like him at all. He smiled, however. He smiled as much as he could.
“Thank goodness…” Esthenia smiled back while lifting her free hand and placing it on his face. A single tear slid down her cheek and she let out a weak sob. “What have I done? It was like a nightmare… I know I tried to hurt you. I’m so sorry…”
“Don’t be.” Torrik said while shaking his head. “You did nothing wrong. You’re fine now. You’re going to be okay…”
He lowered his head as I turned my slightly away. For some reason, it pained me to watch. Though I felt relieved that her capture had gone smoothly, I still felt worry about the fact that she was still able to transforming back into the monster that she was still capable of becoming.
Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Robert and Tex along with the apprehensive looks upon their faces. It was obvious that they were thinking of the same thing.
“Pagasis?”
I turned to see Esthenia looking up at me. She was now sitting up and had a warm smile on her face. It was a look I remembered.
I grinned back.
“Hey you.”
She laughed slightly and shook her head as if I said something silly to her.
“Come over here…”
I sighed and kneeled down in front of her. We stared at each other for a moment. Her green eyes, now alive and full of energy, seemed to glimmer with warmth. This was definitely the Esthenia I knew and loved and there was nothing in the world that could put that fire out.
She shook her head again before leaning in and embracing me.
“Thank you.” She said. “I don’t know how you found me… But I missed you!”
I laughed and gave her a small pat on the head. Making a glance at Torrik, I was relieved to see that he was grinning at me as if I were being tortured.
When she finally let me go, she glanced up at Robert and Tex. Frowning slightly she pointed at them.
“Who are you guys?”
Tex and Robert just glanced at each other, not really knowing what to say. Thinking that the shock might have been too much, or that they were terrified of her, I decided to help them out.
“This is Tex,” I stated while pointing at him. “He’s Castirio’s son.”
Esthenia just blinked hard a couple of times before her mouth dropped open and she let out a laugh.
“You got to be kidding me!” she gasped. “You mean to tell me that Castirio has children? Now that IS something!!”
“And this fine chap here is Doctor Robert Shmitty.” I continued to explain while placing a hand on his shoulder. “He’s gong to help change you back.”
“Hopefully.” Robert nodded bashfully.
Esthenia stared at him for a moment before closing her eyes and smiling.
“I’m not surprised that this human is with you.” She nodded. “He look just like you Paggy, so he’s a good guy.”
Robert’s face flushed and he nodded. Surely that was the least either of us could do.
“There’s somebody else who showed up too…” Torrik grinned while glancing over into a far corner where it was the darkest, and a silhouette of a person sat.
“Umie?” Esthenia gasped.
“Yeah…” Umie hissed while hunching her shoulders. “I’m here…”
Esthenia just smiled.
“Thanks you guys…”
At that moment, a loud, piercing noise met my ears. It hurt, bad. Umie and Tex both dropped to their knees with their hands over their large, sensitive ears. Torrik also had his hands pressed against his head like it was about to burst but managed to stay on his feet.
“What the hell was that?” Tex hissed after the sound finally stopped and he removed his hands from his ears and stood back up.
Esthenia only looked confused.
“What was that? Are you guys okay?”
“You didn’t hear it?” Tex hissed while shaking his head as if it were still ringing.
“That was a signal created to keep the Guardian creatures from entering the island and base laboratory.” Robert stated.
“That was also Nagiko’s signal as well…” I nodded.
“What are you guys talking about?” Esthenia frowned. “I didn’t hear anything.”
“That’s because they made you immune to it.” Robert explained to her. “Us humans can’t hear it either. Therefore, when you are not transformed, your senses are a bit… shut down you’d say.”
“Hell no!” Esthenia snapped while standing up. She looked pissed. The antennae on her head stood on end like her hair. She pointed at Robert. “You mean I have HUMAN hearing too?”
Robert took a step back and nodded sheepishly.
“Now look here Doctor BOB!” She growled, leering down at him. “I don’t give a damn if you’re good or not, but you’re going to do something about this or I’ll kill you myself!”
“I’ll help you…” Umie said quietly from the shadows.
Apprehensive now, Robert took another step back, stumbled on a rock, and fell backward. It seemed that this Esthenia was just as scary as the other to him. Red faced and realizing that he must have looked pretty foolish at this point, he merely nodded again before standing back up.
I laughed and Torrik grinned. This was the Esthenia we knew and remembered. Her mutation made her looks completely different, but her attitude was still the same.
“I’d hate to be a fun kill,” Tex said, “But we should get going now.”
“You’re right.” I nodded, then turned to Esthenia. “Do you think you can fly?”
“I think so.” Esthenia said, now looking serious.
Robert held up his hands.
“Hang on a minute!” He exclaimed. “They still have control over you… What if you transform on us again!?”
“Leave that to me.” Torrik said while placing his arm around Esthenia’s shoulders.
I glanced at Esthenia to see her smile and nod.
“I’ll be fine.” She said. “Really.”
“All right.” I smiled back. “Let’s get out of here.”
* * * * * * * * *

Black Rain

As we emerged from the cave, we could hear the pitter-patter of a rainfall. Once we got outside, we could see that it was down pouring very heavily.
“That’s just perfect…” I heard Esthenia hiss under her breath, making me smile again. Esthenia had always hated getting wet. It didn’t matter if it were just her toes. She’d always puff up and did what it took to get herself dry in a hurry.
“Wuss…” Umie muttered, who liked the rain.
“This isn’t rain…” I said while glancing down on my arm to find specks of black.
“What do you mean?” Umie hissed while holding her hands out. She examined her palms for a moment before letting out a hiss of disgust. “What the hell is it?”
“I’d tell you but you wouldn’t like it…” Torrik remarked.
Staring into the deep purple sky, I thought about the death goddess’ threat. The rain of blood quickly soaked my hair and ran down my face. The scent of malice was thick in the air. This was another sign of her wrath. The hazy clouds seemed to be taunting me.
“I don’t like this.” Tex growled.
“Nobody should…” I snorted. “You going to meet us on the other side?” I asked Torrik, who nodded.
“I’ll take her over with me.” He said, while glancing at Esthenia. “That way, she wont be a pain in your ass if they decide to transform her while you’re only half way there…”
I felt reluctant about the idea for some reason. The thought of having her leave my sight again made me feel nervous. However, I had to trust Torrik. Something just told me to trust him.
“Okay. That’s a good plan.” I nodded. “Just be careful.”
Torrik just grinned and shook his head. He knew I was going to add my two cents. He turned to Esthenia and held out his hand.
“You ready?”
Esthenia nodded and took it. She then smiled at me.
“We’ll be fine!” she said reassuringly. “Don’t worry!”
In that instant, she and Torrik vanished out of my sight again. I swallowed hard. My body was already beginning to feel shaky and cold. Perhaps I already made a mistake. Then again, since when did I become so paranoid? I told myself to relax.
“Pagasis?” Umie’s voice said from behind me.
That voice made me feel warm again.
“I’m good…” I said with a forced smile.
I spread my wings.
“Sorry Robert.” I said to him. “You’re going to have to catch a lift on your buddy there…”
Robert looked up at Tex, who frowned back down at him. The two didn’t seem to like the idea but knew they had no choice.
“You’d better not pull my hair…” Tex hissed while lowering his hand so Robert could climb on.
“As long as you don’t fly like your attitude…” Robert muttered as he stepped on.
“Odd question…” Umie said to me as we took off. “What’s with the collar?”
“Let’s just say that it’s a reminder for me to keep my mouth shut…” I snorted.
“The death goddess made him wear it.” Tex said to her. “She thought it’d look dashing on him.”
I let out a mock laugh and Umie hissed.
“Well, I think it looks dumb then…”
“Hey, is it just me,” Robert murmured while holding up his hand, “or is it starting to rain harder?”
He was right, of course. The further we glided, the heavier the black rain fell. I still didn’t want to know exactly what it was. One thing was for sure though, it was a prime example of filth, and that’s exactly what the death goddess described the humans as and this is what they deserved.
“This is a problem…” Tex hissed. “I’m having some trouble seeing here.”
“Same here!” Umie called.
For me, it was getting quite difficult to see them too. Out of fear of loosing them, I reached over and grabbed whatever I could. I felt my face grow hot.
“Um… what are you doing?” Came Umie’s voice. I felt her hand try to pull away from mine. “Let me go! I’m fine!”
“Hush.” I said, making my grip tighter. “I’m taking us over to Tex. When we get over there, climb onto his back and don’t let go. Now’s a bad time to get separated.”
“B-but…”
“Tex!” I called through the rain and fog. “Yo, can you hear me!?”
“Yeah!” came Tex’s voice. “Where are you?”
“I’m right behind you!” I replied. “Try to fly as straight as you can so we can catch up to you!”
“Got it!”
Beating my wings as hard as I could, I looked down at Umie and smiled.
“Don’t let go.”
Before she could say anything, I threw her forward and let go of her hand. Seconds later, I heard what I wanted to.
“I got her!” Tex’s voice called as he let out a groan. “Damn! Did you have to use your claws?”
I let out a laugh and kept flying forward until I finally caught sight of Tex who was still far ahead. On his back were the two figures of Umie and Robert. I had my doubts that Umie was enjoying his company, and prayed that she didn’t entertain the notion of punching him off.
At this point, my shoulders and wings grew sore as I beat them harder, thrusting myself forward quite a bit. When I got far enough, I reached out and grabbed on to Tex’s tail.
“You okay back there?” Tex called to me.
“Yeah!” I replied.
We flew on for quite a few minutes before Robert broke the silence.
“Hey! I can see it!” he exclaimed while pointing out at a mass of land that appeared on the horizon.
“This is strange…” Tex murmured while glancing around. “The rain seems to be letting up.”
“Goody…” Umie sarcastically remarked. She then stood up. “Now that I can see where the hell I’m going, I think I can manage on my own.”
I shook my head as she leaped off his back and glided ahead. I too let go and followed. The fact that the rain was suddenly getting lighter and lighter confused me a little. I assumed that the rain would be much worse on the island instead of just around it. After a while, I had to cover my eyes for a moment because not only had the rain completely stopped, but there where no clouds at all and the sun shown brightly and blinded me because my eyes were only adjusted to the darkness.
“Look there!” Robert called while pointing out at something else as we got closer. “There’s the lab!”
The island was large, covered with trees, had steep cliffs on all sides and in the very center was a large gray building that was partially covered by the dense foliage. It wasn’t much to be impressed about with its stone walls and scattered antennas sticking up from it.
“That’s it?” Tex snorted, making an expression that was as dull as the building. “For something that was made by the smart, destructive humans, it’s really not that interesting…”
“Well, to make it catch our attention would really be against what they intended…” I snorted.
“True.” Tex sighed.
“Well, I guess we’d better meet up with Nagiko as soon as we can.” I said. “Hopefully we’ll find him quickly.”
“Hopefully he found a way to turn the security off…” Robert said nervously. “If we’re seen before we can get inside, that may cause a lot of problems.”
“Well if that’s the case,” Umie snickered. “Then I won’t mind killing a few more off…”
“Damn you’re brutal, woman.” Tex grinned.
“Damn straight.”
Our point of contact was set for a small rock-face on the southern side of the island that was described to have a cave that served as one of the many entrances to the building. That was where Nagiko was going to meet up with us if everything went as planned.
“Stop looking so worried.” Umie hissed over to me as we started our decent. “You’re starting to make me nervous…”
“I’ll be fine.” I smiled, making her let out a growl.
“Whatever.”
“I see him.” Tex said.
Seconds later, I too saw the speck of white that stood out amongst the rocks. It was Nagiko in his dog form. I was relieved once more.
As soon as we landed, he let out a low whine, turned around and started to walk.
“Come on.” Robert said while following. “What a good dog… you know exactly what you’re doing don’t you?”
Nagiko just glanced over his shoulder and gave his tail a slight wag as if he were agreeing.
“Stupid dog…” Umie lowly growled.
As we walked, I could see Tex attempting to shake and clean himself off from the blood rain. He was obviously disgusted by it and must have known what it was.
The stink of hatred still hung thick in the air. Perhaps it was because all of us were soaked head to toe in it.
The fact that this island was completely clear of clouds, rain or filth made no sense to me at the time. Perhaps it was because the death goddess wanted everyone but the humans to feel her wrath so the creatures of the world would feel remorse of not taking actions against the intruders when they had the chance. This wasn’t fair. It made me feel angry for the way she was making everyone else suffer for acting according to their nature.
The sound of Nagiko’s bark lifted me from my thoughts and I suddenly found myself standing in front of an opening in the rocks. Standing next to it were Esthenia and Torrik, who smiled as we approached.
“I see you guys made it.” Esthenia said.
“Yes, thanks to Moo- I mean Nagiko here.” Robert said while lightly stroking the white dog’s head.
Esthenia turned her attention from him and looked at me. Right away, her ears dropped and she looked worried. She could smell my emotions. I knew she still had that ability so there was no hiding it from her.
…But it didn’t stop her from asking.
“Pagasis, are you okay?”
…And there was no sense in denying it.
“I’m ready to end this.”
* * * * * * * * *

No Way Out

“Okay, here it is…” Nagiko said quietly as we reached a latter at the end of the tunnel. “Up there is the main hallway. Be careful, I wasn’t able to turn the cameras off, but I do know where they are.”
“I just hope that my large nephew outside doesn’t try anything rash if we take too long…” Torrik said thoughtfully.
I nodded while wondering the same thing. Since Tex was so large, we had to leave him outside because there was no way he’d fit inside the tunnel. Instead, he agreed to pull outside security for us in case something went wrong.
“I see no point in me coming in here either…” Umie hissed. “I would have been more useful outside too…”
“I know you’re in a hurry to kill them all…” Robert remarked. “Trust me… I’d like to do the same. It seems as though you know how to handle them.”
“Umie, I’d like you to guard him when he goes in to their main lab.” I said to her. “In order to help Esthenia, he has to get to his equipment.”
“Yes, and this one here is going to need it too.” Robert said while glancing at Torrik. “I would like you to come with me as well.”
“Even if you didn’t request it,” Torrik nodded, “I won’t be leaving Esthenia’s side.”
Esthenia didn’t say anything to this. She only smiled at him. It seemed as though she still hadn’t fully recovered her strength for she looked incredibly tired. Once again, I still felt nervous about leaving her alone.
“And what are you going to do?” Umie glared at me while folding her arms.
“Nagiko and I are going to find that control room and shut this place down.” I said.
“When did all of you find time to discuss this?” Umie hissed.
“I just pulled it out my ass really…”
“That doesn’t matter.” Nagiko said. “Are we going to do it?”
All of us nodded to him.
“All right then.” He gulped, now looking nervous. “I’m going to go up first and check things out. After that, we go our separate ways.”
He then ascended up the latter.
Moments later, we saw him slowly creep back down. Giving us the thumbs up, I grabbed the latter and followed.
Once we reached the top, he leapt up through a square shaped hole in what appeared to be the floor of a large hallway. He reached down and hoisted me up. After taking a quick glance around the empty, white hall, I reached down and pulled Robert up.
“Go on.” He whispered to me. “I know my way around. Get to that control room!”
“Right.” I nodded.
“This way.” Nagiko whispered as he backed against a wall.
I mimicked his movements and pressed myself against the wall. Glancing down it, I could see that it went for quite a few meters in both directions before it split into two different ways.
Nagiko pointed up at the left side of the fork to show me a small device that was mounted high on the corner of the ceiling.
“They aren’t that amazing,” he said to me, “but it doesn’t take much to set them off. They’re all on the left side so all we have to do is stay on the same side and go under them.”
It sounded simple enough and without a second word, we were moving along the wall very quickly, ducking under the cameras and peering around corners for any signs of the henchmen. Fortunately for us, nobody was there.
Thinking that it was almost too easy, we came upon a large door. It looked as though it were completely made out of shiny steel. The hinges that held the door in place were as wide as my arm. Obviously there was something important beyond this.
Nagi stood there for quite a while, staring at it thoughtfully with his hand on his chin. After a few moments, he finally let out a sigh.
“I know that there’s a button or switch around here that opens the keypad to unlock this.” He said. “But I can’t remember where it was.”
“Oh.” I almost wanted to laugh. I had always had the uncanny ability to unlock and open such things. “Let me handle this one.”
He stepped aside and I leaned forward and placed my hand on the center of the cold metal. I then concentrated all my energy into the door to look within its complex circuitry. Just then, a sequence of numbers popped into my head. Keeping them in mind, I moved my hand toward the latch and repeated the numbers in my head until there was a dull clicking sound.
“Wow… how did you learn to do that?” Nagi asked in awe.
“While living in Esthenia’s mind, I managed to pick up a lot of useful information throughout the years.” I replied. “All I did was find the code using telepathy and relayed it to the circuits that controlled the lock itself.”
“Amazing… using magic against technology…” Nagi smiled while shaking his head. “I never thought in my years that magic ever existed. I could feel it, but never understood that feeling. I suppose this whole thing will come down to the strongest method… magic or science.”
“I can’t wait to find out.” I grinned while pressing down the latch and pushed the heavy door. That’s when I froze. Something at that point just didn’t feel right. It was that pulling again. “Esthenia…”
Nagi’s ear twitched as he stared at me for a moment.
“What’s wrong?”
I waited a moment, trying to confirm this feeling. Unsure if it was either Esthenia, or that “other” pulling, I decided that it was perhaps best to go check it out. However, I had to help Nagi first.
I pushed the door to find a small room full of blinking lights and moving pictures that lined the top of the wall. Two humans dressed in white were sitting in large black armchairs in front of the screens looking incredibly confused.
“What the hell?” one said. “How did you get in here!!?”
“That’s not a concern of yours anymore.” I said while holding up my hand, focusing my energy toward it.
Suddenly, both men were holding their heads.
“What-“
“I’m entering your minds.” I told them, feeling less guilty since I was explaining to them what I was doing to them. I didn’t like the thought of hurting humans. “So I can put them at ease.”
Moments later, both men quieted and closed their eyes; limply sitting in their chairs.
“Are they dead?” Nagiko asked.
“No… they’re in a deep sleep.” I replied, walking over to them. I lifted them up out of their chairs and lay them on the floor against the back wall. “They won’t wake up for quite a long time.”
“I see.” Nagiko said while walking up to the desk to study the knobs and buttons.
“Nagiko,” I said. “You’ve seen this before haven’t you?”
“Yes.” He nodded. “I’ve watched them use it.”
“Good, do your thing.” I told him while heading for the door. “I have to find Esthenia. Something doesn’t feel right.”
“Hang on a moment.” Nagi said. “I can find them on the monitors.”
“Can you?”
Nagi nodded and turned to the control panel. After looking around for a moment he pressed a square shaped button. Suddenly, one of the screens changed its picture and he grinned.
“Okay…” he said after pushing the button again and the screen next to the first changed. “One of these should show them. Hopefully by now they should realize that it’s safe to walk in front of the cameras.”
He pushed the button again and let out a gasp.
“There they are!” he exclaimed while pointing up at the third monitor. The screen showed Umie and Robert with their weapons drawn and shooting.
“I have to go find them!” I said as I turned my heel and ran out. “Keep an eye on them!”
“You got it!”
Bolting down the hallway, I could feel an energy growing stronger and stronger the closer I got. Something was happening, something terribly wrong. I had a feeling that something like this was going to happen, and felt stupid that I didn’t plan ahead because at that moment, I was scanning my brain for any possible ideas that would get us out of this one. Surely the other humans knew that something was going on, so it was only a matter of time that they’d show up.
I rounded another corner and found a door with a lock that had been burned; probably by Umie’s claws. I kicked it open and hurried inside to find Umie and Robert hiding behind a pillar. They let out a gasp when the saw me standing behind them.
“Get behind here!” Robert exclaimed. “You’re going to get killed!”
I frowned, looking straight ahead, there was a room full of tables and chairs. A sign on the wall read “DFAC”, meaning that this was some sort of dining facility. Suddenly, on the other side of the room, two black figures peeked behind another pillar and fired their weapons at me.
“I had about enough of this…” I snorted as I blocked the rounds with my powers. Having my hand already raised, I pointed at the humans and threw them aside into a wall.
“Pagasis…” Umie gasped.
“Where’s Esthenia?” I asked, now feeling a bit annoyed.
Robert and Umie looked at one another with painful expressions.
“Where is she?”
“We’re so sorry…” Robert said. “We got this far… and then the footmen attacked us. And then she…” he looked away shamefully.
“She transformed.” Umie hissed. “Right there… in front of us… Then she turned on is.”
I took a close look, noticing that Umie had a horrible burn on her shoulder.
“No… I’m sorry.” I said while turning away. “I should have went with you guys…” Then something else occurred to me. “Where’s Torrik?”
“He’s gone too.” Robert sighed.
I gasped and spun back around to face him.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“After Esthenia transformed and turned on us… something happened to him. It was incredible.” Robert replied. “He transformed as well. It happened so quickly that all we saw was him grabbing Esthenia and disappearing.”
“So you don’t know where they are?” I asked, knowing the answer.
Robert and Umie both shook their heads.
“Okay, new plan.” I said. “And this time, I know it’s going to work.
“What are you going to do?” Umie hissed.
“Come here.” I said to Robert while holding out my hand.
Robert appeared to be a little nervous, considering what I just did to the other people, but he walked over to me and allowed me to place my hand on his chest.
“This may tickle a little.” I said while focusing my energy on him.
“Wha-“
Moments later, I felt my body begin to change. It wasn’t major, but it did feel very strange. I could feel Robert move beneath my hand and I grew worried that I was hurting him.
“This is weird.” Umie frowned while staring at us.
“Oh my goodness!” Robert exclaimed while looking at me from head to toe. “You look just like me!”
I looked down, realizing that my magic had worked its wonders again, and there I stood as a full fledged human; identical to Robert.
“Brilliant!” Robert laughed. “This should definitely throw them off!”
This new plan wasn’t well thought out, but it was sure to work since we didn’t have to worry about cameras, only physical people. People were easily fooled by what they saw.
Robert and Umie continued to where his associates had all their equipment stored and perhaps to find out who was in charge of controlling Esthenia, while I hunted for Esthenia and Torrik. They had to be in the building somewhere.
At this point, I realized that we had no way out. We’d come too far to retreat. I still felt dumb that I didn’t think of a backup plan in case the first one fell through. Obviously, Esthenia was still under their control, but Torrik’s roll in this was a mystery. Was he trying to protect them from her, or was he really out to bring her back to this damned place? Was he actually working for the humans?
In my mind, there was no way that was true. In my mind, I trusted Torrik with my life, and yet my heart was still heavy with doubt. Something wasn’t right about the way I was thinking. It was painful to think that Torrik had betrayed us.
“Nagi!” I said to one of the cameras, “It’s me, Pagasis!”
“Pagasis?” Nagi’s voice came into my head. “Is that really you?”
Somewhat surprised that he was able to use telepathy, I nodded.
“Yeah.” I said. “If you can, please see if you can find Torrik or Esthenia within the building. I’m going outside to see if Tex seen anything.”
“I’m on it.” Nagi replied.
“Umm… Nagi?”
“Yeah?”
“Which way is out?”
* * * * * * * * *

The Findings of a Mad Man

Listening to Nagi’s instructions inside my head, I continued down the corridors. My mind racing, I didn’t have a clue on what I was getting myself into, but since all other plans had failed, then I was just going to “wing it” again.
“Hey, Pagasis,” came Nagi’s voice, suddenly sounding concerned. “There’s a room on this map in here that doesn’t have any working cameras inside.”
“So, what’s the big deal?” I asked. “It’s probably a storage room or something.”
“I don’t think so.” He replied. “it says on here that it’s room 6A. I think I’ve been in there before, and it was no storage room.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean that-“
Before Nagi could finish, I suddenly felt something heavy in my chest. I felt this feeling before, but it was nothing like this. Not this bad. The last time I’d felt it this strong was when Esthenia was taken away from me. The fear was running through me like a disease. There was no way that she was being taken away again. I wasn’t about to let that happen.
Moments later, I found myself entering a white square room with a high ceiling where a balcony lined the walls. On the other side was a large steel door. It was the main entryway as Nagi instructed.
“Stop right there, Shmitty!” a voice rang out as several men appeared from two side doors and evenly stationed themselves around the balcony. Their weapons all pointed at me.
“That’s not a good idea.” I said to them, feeling more irritated. “Let me pass.”
The hair on my neck stood up as all the men started to laugh. This strange feeling began to take over and for some reason, I felt incredibly angry. The thought of blasting these ignorant bastards to the afterlife danced across my mind like an opportunity that served itself only once in a lifetime. It was normally a horrible thought, but for some reason, it felt right at the time.
A man appeared in the doorway. He was short and dressed in white. He was balding and had small squinty eyes that reminded me of a rodent. His overall appearance reminded me of a chubby weasel.
“Don’t try anything, Schmitty.” He laughed. His voice was high and energetic, making him seem more like a rat in human’s clothing. “I don’t know how you got here or how you survived, but its over.”
Assuming that this was one of Robert’s colleagues, I decided to use this situation to my advantage. This man seemed to be the type to mindlessly blow his secret plans by explaining the whole situation as if he had already won.
“What did you do with Experiment 01 and 02?” I demanded.
The man laughed again, now beaming with arrogance. My assumption was correct.
“Experiment 01 and 02 are working for us.” He explained. “They already reported back to the doctor, and led you and your friends here to us. Even if you have taken over our control room, we are still able to lock down this fortress. You cannot escape now.”
“That’s… impossible.” I gasped. The thought of Esthenia and Torrik both betraying us made me want to die right there. It was impossible. I could feel her when she was around. Then again, it was a different feeling, but I figured it was because she was transformed.
“Will you come quietly now, or will you fight and die?” the man grinned.
My body was on fire at this point. A vain in my forehead throbbed, making the rest of my head start to ache. This was not happening, no way, not now. I’d traveled too far to be tricked and insulted like this. I was about to loose it right there when Nagiko’s voice came into my mind.
“Calm down.” He was saying. “If you loose it now, you might not get another chance. Let them take you. You know it as well as I do that they can never confine you.”
I let out a sigh.
“Yes, thank you. I needed that.”
Nodding, I got down on one knee.
“I’ll go quietly.”

Having a couple of gun barrels being prodded against your back isn’t quite a comfortable way to go somewhere. The thought of turning around and frying these people came to mind once again, but I tried my best to ignore it as they led me down the long white hallways. I didn’t know where I was at this point, but hopefully, they’d take me to the place where my questions would be answered.
I still couldn’t believe the fact that we had been deceived by those we where attempting to save. Then again, maybe those controlling chips where more powerful than we thought. I thought more and more about the strange feeling I had earlier. Had it been Esthenia, or was it something else? Something about that wasn’t making any sense. Another fact that confused me was about this sudden anger that kept taking over me. Did I really suddenly become a demon?
Then it hit me, the time when I discovered the black blood on my fingers when Umie shot me. That flash that came from her, and the feeling of being two places at once. It wasn’t caused by Esthenia, but it was somehow caused by Umie. I only had that feeling when Esthenia wore my charm; the same one that I supposedly lost.
Wondering why I felt it so strongly a little wile ago, I hoped that whatever caused it wasn’t too bad because there was no way I could run off now. With the henchmen thinking I was Robert, meaning that they assumed that he was captured. That meant leaving the real one and Umie to roam about without any interruptions. Hopefully they’d find what they where looking for and perhaps I would too. I was still a bit worried about Tex outside though. Hopefully he did the smart thing and hid. Then again, this was Tex after all.
“Pagasis,” came Nagi’s voice again. “You’re about to pass that strange room again. Ask that what’s in there.”
Curiously glancing to my left to see that there was indeed a door coming up, I decided to take his advice.
“Hey, what’s in there again?” I asked, making it seem as if I used to know.
Once again, it worked. The short Doctor turned and glanced at me with a raised eyebrow and a bit of a frown.
“I should expect you to know, Schmitty.” He replied, sounding annoyed. “We just barely started on it when we got rid of you. That room was the reason why you went crazy on us, and now you don’t remember?”
“I do, but what’s in it now is what I mean.” I replied dryly.
“Then why should I tell you?” the man asked, now sounding a bit childish as his tongue stuck out at me.
“I tried…” I sighed to myself, making a mental note to check it out later anyway because Nagi had to get me all curious. Not to mention that as I passed by it, my world seemed to go into slow motion for a moment, spiking my concern even more. There was something in that room that shouldn’t be there, and they really didn’t want me, or Robert, to know about it.
We walked on until we reached a very large steel door. I held my breath, waiting for my moment when the truth would be revealed to me; If Esthenia and Torrik really where under their control.
“Hey, Paul!” the little man squeaked as he pushed open the heavy door, “Look who we got!”
I stepped inside as one of the men impatiently prodded my spine with his barrel. The room was large, full of monitors, wires, and shelves stacked high with miscellaneous gadgets and papers. Marker and cork boards lined the back walls with writing and notes pinned up that appeared to contain a ton of scattered information. In the center of the room there was a long table with even more objects scattered about and a single person standing up from his chair.
I’d seen this man before when Tex and I where watching them from the trees a while back. He was tall, sort of lanky, and also wore the lab coat and white attire. He wore small rectangular specks that sat low on his nose and had a full head of short brown hair though it appeared to be graying around the edges a bit. He had a young face and an expression that made him appear as intelligent as the clutter that surrounded him.
“What is it Frankie?” Paul asked in an annoyed tone. He then glanced from the little man to me. His dark eyes seemed to light up a bit when he smiled. “Ah, yes, Robert. It’s so nice to see you again.”
I nodded as he walked up closer to me. With a flick of his wrist, he ordered his men off my back.
“So tell me, who are these friends of yours?” he asked me curiously. “It was cleaver of you to sneak into here and take the control room, but I seriously doubt that you could do something like that all by yourself. At least if you where a bit more brave you could.”
I frowned. This man’s arrogant aura made me want to vomit on his shoes for some reason. Instead I just shrugged.
“Well, you know how it goes,” I said casually. This man didn’t scare me one bit. “Good things come to those who aren’t psycho.”
The man smiled even more.
“Robert, you know just as much as I do that this idea wasn’t crazy. Just because you got scared and wanted to go back doesn’t mean that we’re the crazy ones.”
“Why you after certain ones?” I finally asked him, knowing that if I wanted any information, this man had it. “Why do you keep chasing them?”
“Oh, you mean the other two creatures that you brought here with you?” he asked, a grin appearing on his face. He then turned to his desk and seated himself in front of one of the monitors. Pulling out a keyboard, he started to type.
“I figure I might as well tell you since you left so soon.” He said, raising his hand to the wall behind me. “Look at the screen behind you.”
I turned to face a large monitor on the wall behind me next to the doorway to view a blue screen with a darker blue grid pattern. There where words scrolling across the bottom that I couldn’t read because they where moving too fast.
“Now look here.” He said, pressing some other button that made an image appear.
I gasped when a wire frame version of Esthenia came onto the screen. It rotated slowly, allowing a view of her from all sides. Along the sides there was some data; a graph that was titled “Potential Abilities and Power”.
“Since we came here and began to study the creatures, we noticed that they didn’t live as long nor where they as powerful as a select few such as the one shown here.” Paul explained. “They would have been difficult to find if it wasn’t for those samples of DNA we collected when we first arrived. You remember, don’t you Robert? How we started to study the odd patterns we found in some of our samples?”
“Yeah, sure.” I replied. “Just cut to the chase.”
Paul’s grin grew even wider. Perhaps my lack of patience intrigued him for some reason.
“Well, after you where dispatched, we began to track down and spy on those select few to gather up their information.” He continued. “This one here was actually the easiest to capture despite the fact that she was so powerful. She appeared to have a most interesting DNA pattern stating that she had some human blood in her.” He then pressed another button, making an image of Torrik come up on the screen. “Then there was this one. Though the other was hard to find, this one would have been the most difficult to catch since his ability being fast would have proved to be an inconvenience if it wasn’t for the fact that we caught him and the female at the same time.”
Umie’s image appeared next.
“Now this one really had us confused for a while since she was so difficult to find. We found that her sample was similar to the first one since her blood also had some human DNA within it. We then put two and two together to realize that this one is the offspring of the male and female we captured first. This fascinated us since she appeared to be as old as them. Our men have failed countless times to capture her because of her strength and intelligence.”
“You got that right.” I snorted.
Ignoring my comment, he pushed the button again and an image of myself appeared on the screen.
“This one was very odd indeed and nothing like the other three.” Paul stated. “Though he had absolutely no human blood or relations at all, he still proved to be the most powerful of them all. This made us realize that he would be the most difficult to capture but we needed some bait to bring him to us, instead of going through the trouble of hunting him.”
The man then glanced up at me and smiled again.
“We call him ‘bob’ since he looks a lot like you, Robert.” He said.
I couldn’t help but grin at that one. I’d called myself by that name a few years back when we went to the human world and I posed as a Chinese kid at Esthenia’s school.
“Anyway, using their magic essence and our science, we combined the two to create something of our own.” He explained. “This method is very unstable if it weren’t balanced by equal amounts of both. To control the magic, we use science, to control the limits of science we used magic.”
“So that’s how Esthenia was able to transform like that…” I gasped. That’s when another important question came to mind. “What about the other? You said that he escaped.”
“Indeed he did.” Paul replied. “But we managed to get what we needed from him first. It would have been nice to keep him around for further testing, but he did help bring you here anyway, so I suppose his job is done.”
“Shut up.” I said, my anger boiling again. Perhaps the thought of betrayal and this guy talking about it so lightly was what was really pissing me off. “You are insane and ignorant! Do you have any idea about what you did? Do you even know what this world and its creatures are for?”
“What would that matter?” the man shrugged carelessly, making my blood boil even more. “They’re just dumb animals on the inside, so what’s it matter.”
I didn’t say anything out of fear of my own voice blowing the room apart. Instead, I raised my hand and concentrated my energy. Tswuki Mona was right about this man. There was no reason for this mad man to live.
Paul stood up from his desk just as the door behind us opened. I felt my heart sink away as Esthenia herself walked into the room. She was back into her normal form though she still had the two antenna sticking up from her head. She made a sideways glance at me before halting at the man’s side.
“Is there a problem in here, master?” she asked, glaring at me.
“Yes, there is.” He said. “This man should have been killed the first time, but this time I wouldn’t feel so bad about it if you where to do me the honor.”
“As you wish, sir.” She said while holding up her hand.
I felt as if my body where made of lead. I wanted to fall apart and sink into the floor right there. It was all true.
“Esthenia!” I exclaimed. “Why? Are you still under his control!?”
“I did what my master instructed me to do.” She replied blandly. “Now I will do it again.”
With that, she lunged forward, causing the men behind me to scatter and me to block her with my arms. The man called Frankie let out a squeal and hid behind the opened door. Her claws impaled my forearms a bit, but it didn’t stop me from forcing her back with my powers. I was glad that they where working on her now, but they where still limited while I was assuming the form of Robert.
“He must have a shield.” The man said to her. “Transform into Darkside Venom and finish him off.”
“Yes, sir.” She said, her eyes beginning to glow.
“No, Esthenia!”
With a blink of an eye, a figure appeared in front of me.
“Torrik!” I exclaimed. “What- why?”
He held up his arms as his body began to glow.
“Experiment 02!” the man barked. “What are you doing!?”
Without much thought, I drew the hand gun from my hip and raised it to his head. I couldn’t figure out what he was up to either, but I wasn’t about to find out who’s side he was really on.
He glanced over his shoulder at me and grinned.
“You aren’t fooling my nose with that disguise.” He whispered. “I didn’t mean to do this to you, but it was the only way I could get you guys to come here. There is a room down the hallway that you must go to. I’ll hold her off for as long as I can.”
I didn’t lower the gun.
“But- Torrik…”
“This is not the Esthenia you know…” he said, now sounding impatient. “Trust me… get to that room and your questions will be answered. Now GO!”
Without another word, something burst from his back and he launched himself at Esthenia, who was now transformed once again.
I did what I was told and turned my heel for the door. Unfortunately, Frank and a few other men attempted to block my only way out.
“Out of my way!” I pushed forward with my hands and sent them flying. By this time, I had enough. I didn’t care if I hurt them or not. Nobody was going to stand in my way again.
* * * * * * * *

The Inconvenient Truth

Praying that Umie and Robert had gotten somewhere, I bolted down the hallway.
“Nagi.”
“Yeah.”
“Where’s that room you where talking about?” I asked.
“It’s just ahead around the corner.” He replied. “I’m having some trouble with some of the cameras so I can’t see what’s over there. Be careful.”
I suddenly ducked as something whizzed over my head. I glanced behind me to see that the henchmen where pointing their weapons at me. Before I could make my move, I was hit from around the other corner. They had me surrounded! My side burning from the shot that had hit me, I backed against the wall and transformed back into my original self.
“It’s him!” Frank was exclaiming while hiding behind the henchmen. “Don’t kill him! Use the nets! The nets you fools!”
“Pagasis!”
“Robert, Umie!” I glanced behind me to see that the henchmen that where advancing behind me where taken out and sprawled across the floor. Both Umie and Robert had smoking weapons in their hands.
“We’ll take them from here.” Umie said while giving me a thumbs up. She was grinning to show that she was actually enjoying herself. “We found what we where looking for, now it’s up to you!”
I smiled and nodded. Ducking around the corner, we passed each other and I felt that pulling sensation once more. Umie and I both stopped and looked at each other.
“I’m glad you found that.” I said to her.
She smiled and shrugged. Her face somewhat turned a shade of pink.
“Well… you know. I couldn’t let it just lay there. Now go on!”
“Right!”
“It’s coming up on your right.” Nagiko’s voice said to me.
Seconds later, I stood facing a white door. It looked normal like all the others, but I had this feeling that whatever was inside, it was nothing like the rest. Placing my hand on the knob, I attempted to turn it, but it was locked.
Instead of taking the time of unlocking the door with my head, I lifted my hoof and kicked as hard as I could. The door flew off its hinges and flew several feet before landing in a dented mass.
I stepped inside, the dark corridor. Glancing around for some sort of switch, I finally found a small lever not too far away from the door. I ended up shielding my eyes because the room lit up so bright the moment I pressed it down that it almost instantly blinded me. It was a long corridor with a very high ceiling. On the other side was a white door that had a sign on it that said: “SPECIMEN ROOM- AUTHORIZED PERSONEL ONLY”. Along the sides of the hallway there where small red lights that indicated a trap for intruders. It was most likely rigged to set off some kind of alarm.
“Nagi, disable the power.”
“You got it.” Nagi replied.
Moments later, the room went dark, then red as the emergency lights kicked on.
“That’s all I can do. The rest is run off some kind of generator.”
Relieved that the alarms where turned off, I continued down the corridor.
“It’s fine.” I replied. “Thank you. Do me another favor.”
“What’s that?”
I placed my hand on the door. Unsure about what was to happen when I got inside, I felt nervous for some reason and felt that it was a good idea to make sure everyone was okay.
“Get out of there and lock the door behind you.” I instructed. “Then go outside and find Tex. Can you do that?”
“Yeah, are you sure?”
“Yes, go.”
The sound of running liquid came to my ears as the door opened. This room was the largest I’d seen so far. The ceiling itself rose so high that I could barely see the top. Shelves containing jars full of liquid and odd specimens and pipes ran along the walls and seemed to give the darkened place an eerie glow. There in front of me where four cylinder-shaped tanks filled with a strange greenish-blue liquid that also lit up the room. Each one was about ten feet tall, seven feet wide and mounted into the wall. Many tubes and wires protruded out the tops of them and ran to other machines that lined the room. Two of the tanks where empty while the other two definitely weren’t.
“What is it Pagasis?”
Nagi’s voice seemed to drown away into a deep fog as I slowly advanced forward. What they did to Esthenia and Torrik was nothing compared to what horrors lay within this room. That string that held us together was brought to its end as I got closer. For as long as I could remember, I never felt the notion to just break down and wallow up into tears. There was no way that this was happening.
“Esthenia…” I sighed as I placed my hand up to the glass. “Why…”
I then slammed my fist against the tank that held her. By her side in the one next to hers was her lover; curled up in full fledged animal form. Both of them had tubes and lines that seemed to hold them in their watery prison and they had their eyes closed as if they where merely sleeping. It had all come together now; the inconvenient truth.
“Hey! What are you doing in here!?” I startled voice asked from behind me.
Unable to describe what I felt at that moment, I turned to see another man dressed in white in the doorway. He wasn’t like the others I had seen with his stocky body structure and red hair. In his shaky hand he held a clip board and the other a pen.
“Oh my gosh! You’re one of them!” he exclaimed while backing up.
Without a second thought, I raised my hand and captured this person in a barrier and made him float toward me. He wiggled and thrashed around attempting to escape, but it was to no avail when I reached out and grabbed him by the throat.
“What did you do to them?” I asked, not feeling much emotion. This was a new feeling to me and I couldn’t explain what it was. There was no anger, no sadness, or any other emotion I could think of. My body felt numb with cold but I didn’t mind it too much. All that was on my mind was to crush this man’s head if he didn’t answer me.
He gasped as he reached for my hand in the attempt to pry himself free. “They… aren’t dead… they’re alive in the tanks… we where just using them… for further testing…”
“To make more of your monsters I presume?” I asked, not feeling any sympathy whatsoever.
“No… it’s not right.”
“Oh, now you say it.” I snorted.
“No, please!”
“Pagasis! Put him down!”
Suddenly feeling a warm sensation take over me, I released the man and turned to the door where Umie and Robert stood. Both had looks of shock upon their faces.
Snapping out of it, I stared down at the gasping man that now lay at my feet.
“What was I doing?”
“Oh my gods!” Umie gasped, running up to the tank and placing her hands on it. “What is this?!”
“They… cloned them.” Robert gasped, looking as horrified as Umie. “I should have realized it sooner when I found the notes. Part of it didn’t make any sense until… this.”
“Robert, we’ve got to get them out of here!” I said while turning to him.
“Yes.” Robert stated while holding up a large rolled up sheet of paper. “These are the blueprints to this project and hopefully will allow me to take the proper measures in fixing it.”
While in the midst of thinking that didn’t sound too hard, a sound came to my ears and suddenly something came flying a vent in the wall before I had a chance to retaliate. The feeling of cold hard steel slicing through my skin tore through my side again as I was pinned to the wall by Darkside Venom’s long blade. Her face was just within inches of mine as she stared down at me coldly.
“It’s a pity you found this place. ” A voice said from the doorway.
There stood Paul, Frank, another man dressed in white and a group of henchmen at their back. “Now you’re going to have to die.”
“What did you do to Torrik?” Umie roared, raising her claws in anger. I didn’t notice it before, but it appeared that her ammunition had been spent for she no longer had her large weapon on her back and she was willing to fight with her bare hands.
“We didn’t do anything to him.” Frank laughed. “Your other friend there took care of Darkside Phantom for us.”
Umie let out a roar.
“YOU SON-OF-A-“
“Paul, this is enough!” Robert exclaimed, taking a step before Umie. “You all need to leave this place. It’s done, you’re all finished. Just go so that you can all be spared!”
“Don’t you understand?” The other doctor asked. This one was tall and rather lanky with head of thick combed back black hair. “Robert, you know we can’t go back now. You can still do this with us.”
“Robert, please listen to him.” The red haired man said. He had regained conciseness and was being partially carried by one of the henchmen. I almost didn’t notice that he was no longer lying at my feet.
“No, you are the ones who don’t understand!” Robert exclaimed. “You’ve made their gods angry and if you don’t leave, they’ll kill us all!”
“Can you believe that?” Frank laughed, trying to appear as though he wasn’t a bit startled by this news. “Gods told you that, eh?”
“Out of everything you’ve seen in this world, you’re telling me that what I have to say sounds a bit odd?” Robert glared, now looking angry. “You are all lucky that these Guardians spared your lives because that is what they do! Each one of these guys could kill you all if they wanted to because they are a million times stronger than your brains! Face it, you lost!”
“Now what you’re failing to understand is that we’ve managed to create something far stronger with the combining of magic and science.” Paul explained, not at all shaken by Robert’s words though the men around him suddenly appeared a bit more afraid. His swave attitude seemed to shield him like some kind of impenetrable armor. “These gods you speak of are no match for the power that we now hold. Nothing can be stronger.”
“How can you be so sure about that?” Robert asked.
Paul let out a laugh as he raised his hand. A red glow began to form around his body and an intense negative energy surged through the room.
“Oh my gods!” Umie exclaimed. “That red… He’s a demon!”
The men around him began to scatter as the floor under him began to crack.
“Esthenia… listen to me.” I said to Darkside Venum, who didn’t move an inch. Feeling my strength leaving me along with a lot of blood, I couldn’t get her off, but without her master giving her orders, she was stuck there, keeping me pinned to the wall. I knew that Esthenia’s soul was in there somewhere. Nobody could ever duplicate that spirit and the fire in those eyes. I’d seen it the first time she reverted back to her normal self. “I know that you’re just a clone, but you are still Esthenia, and I saw it in your eyes before. Her spirit is inside of you and I know that she’s the one giving orders, not him!”
Darkside Venom continued to stare at me until she suddenly blinked and began to shake her head then clutch it madly with her free hand as if her mind was having some kind of internal battle. Her arm jerked, pulling out the blade and releasing me from the wall. I fell, clutching my side. The warmth of blood came spilling out and I put as much pressure on it as possible and ignored the pain.
“I’ve got her.”
I looked up to see Robert holding her up as she fell limp in his hands. She was changing back to her lightside once more, making me wonder if my words really affected her. “Are you okay?”
“I’ll be fine.” I groaned as I hoisted myself to my feet.
“How did this happen?” Robert choked as a look of despair appeared on his face. “What happened to my friends…”
“Your friend had become possessed by a demon.” I told him. “I didn’t think that such a thing could ever happen, but this could easily explain his corruption.”
“You shouldn’t be walking!” he exclaimed.
“I’ll be fine.” I said to him. “It might get dangerous in here, so take Esthenia and get back.”
Robert’s face grew serious and he nodded. Lifting Esthenia into his arms he disappeared into a far corner and out of sight.
Meanwhile, I made my way next to Umie, ready to fight this new enemy that has presented himself. I could hardly make him out because of the red glow that surrounded him. Perhaps the inner demon was about to finally come out.
“Will we engage him?” Umie asked me.
“Yes.” I nodded. “He is no longer a human, and must be treated like any other demon. Now’s your time to shine.”
“Right.” Umie said, putting herself into a fighting stance, waiting for him to make the first move.
“Well, well. I see that he’s finally shown his true self.” A voice said from behind us.
Umie and I both spun around to see both Goddesses staring down at us from their places on top of the holding tanks.
“You where right.” The Chaos Goddess said while folding her arms. “He is turning pretty demonic. Almost like the other idiot down there. Good thing you put that collar on him, eh?”
Tswuki Mona didn’t say anything at first. She continued to stare down at me. Those amber eyes once again seemed to bore right through me.
“What was the point of making that deal if you where about to break it yourself?” the Death Goddess asked me. “I allowed you to advance for the sake of saving your two friends here, and now you see that this is still going to end the same way.”
That was when I understood. They put that collar on me because I was subject to my own anger without even realizing it. Being separated from Esthenia seemed to trigger this somehow. I knew this because when she was around, I was always happy and never angry or hateful of anything. Apparently, my becoming a demon wasn’t a part of the plan. Suddenly grateful of this, I nodded and smiled.
“Now, I want you to get you and your friends out of here, because by the time we’re finished with this demon, this fortress will no longer be standing.” Tswuki Mona said as she leapt down in between us and the new forming demon. “This way, all of us will be satisfied.”
Thinking that there was really no other way, I nodded and took Umie’s hand. She had been staring up at the Goddess of Chaos for quite some time. A look of longing danced in her green eyes. She had met this woman before and had always wanted to see her again for some reason. Suddenly realizing that somebody was making physical contact with her, she turned her head and glared at me.
“We should do as she says.” I told her. “We can still get the other humans home, but it’s going to be difficult if we don’t get them all out of here.”
“They won’t listen to us.” She hissed.
“They’ll listen to you if you tell them that the place is about to come down on their heads.” I explained.
“But how are we going to get Esthenia and Torrik out of here?” she questioned, now staring up at the large holding tanks that held her two future parents.
Within that moment, there was a rumbling noise and the sounds of shattering glass as some of the liquid filled jars crashed on the floor and the wall suddenly burst open. It was ironic, but it couldn’t have happened at a better time.
“See!” Tex roared happily while he pounded his chest with his fist. A panicked Nagiko was on his back, shaking the dust and mortar off himself. “I told you that breaking into the wall was a great idea!”
“Tex!” I exclaimed while running up to him. “I’m so glad you’re here! Help me open these jars and carry Torrik out of here!”
Tex stared at the jars containing our two friends in deep shock, but he didn’t question or say anything as he ran up to them and placed his hands on the glass.
Meanwhile, Esthenia stared down at him.
“You might want to move.” He said to her.
“Allow me.” She smiled. She floated upward and snapped her fingers. There was a cracking sound as a web of shattering glass began to form at the base of the tanks. “You know I love to cause chaos!” she smiled as the liquid began to pour out. “Breaking things is fun!”
Umie let out a determined growl and suddenly grinned.
“Thank you.” She said to the Chaos Goddess. “I’ll never forget what you’ve done for me. I’ve wanted to tell you that ever since you first spoke with me.”
Esthenia didn’t say anything, but smiled as her daughter turned to us. “You guys go on ahead and get them out of here. I’ll get the damned humans out!”
With that, she turned her heel and bolted out the open door before anyone attempted to stop her.
“Wait!” Nagiko exclaimed while chasing after her. “I’ll help you!”
Meanwhile, Tex and I took our friends out of the tanks and pulled the cords off their bodies. They where deeply embedded, but the wounds weren’t serious enough to be permanent thankfully. I almost panicked when Esthenia wasn’t breathing but the moment I pulled a particularly large tube from her chest, she let out a gasp and begun to breath through her mouth. Aside from a dark set of stripes that appeared on her body, she appeared to be completely normal.
“Are they okay?” Robert asked while appearing next to me. He still held the other Esthenia in his arms.
“Yeah.” I said to him. “You should get out too. We’ll be right behind you.”
“Right!” he said as he made his escape through the hole that Tex had made.
As I took Esthenia into my arms and glanced up at Tex to see that he had Torrik over his shoulder, who like Esthenia had more sets of stripes on his body. Though Torrik was much larger than him, Tex was definitely strong enough to carry him.
“Go now,” The Death Goddess warned. “His transformation is almost complete. He’s very powerful since he’s half human, but like I said- I cannot guarantee that you all will survive this battle.”
“Yes, and thank you!” I said to her as I followed Tex through the large hole, leaving the chaos and death behind me.
* * * * * * * * *

Into Oblivion

I wasn’t sure of the plan when we got outside but we made our distance from the building and into the trees for cover. If Tswuki Mona wanted to destroy the place she’d make a show out of it. Not to mention that the Goddess of Chaos would most likely lend a hand in making it extra special.
“Let’s stop here.” Robert said when we reached a clearing. “This should be far enough.”
I sat Esthenia down and leaned her upright against a tree. After checking her pulse and breathing again, I suddenly started to feel a horrible pain. The ground beneath us started to tremble a bit and panic began to set in. Eyes wide, the sounds of destruction came to my ears. The lab was exploding, and nobody else was showing up.
“Robert, can you keep an eye on her?” I asked while turning my heel. “I’ve got to save them. Tex, you come too!!”
“Yes, sir!” Tex roared as he followed close behind as we raced through the trees and underbrush.
Upon exiting the forest, we could see that most of the building still stood though it appeared that part of the building had already collapsed due to the fighting that was still going on inside. The Death Goddess was probably having some fun with this one.
“Tex, take out the door!” I instructed, allowing him to go ahead of me.
Grinning, he kept running until he lowered himself and bashed the door completely out of the wall with his shoulder.
“Umie!” I called as soon as I entered the building, hoping to hear some kind of response. A strange aura hung in the air like a thick fog that clouded my senses. Perhaps this was merely smoke from a fire that burned within, or perhaps it was caused by the battle of two different powers colliding. Either way, it was going to make it difficult to locate anyway. Perhaps this was why they hadn’t made it out yet.
“Do you hear that?” Tex asked, his ear twitching. He had to duck low because he was taller than the ceiling.
The floor rumbled beneath my feet and plaster rained down like chunks of hard snow. The place was going to shake apart if we didn’t get out quickly. Amongst the building shaking apart, the sounds of voices came to my ears too.
“Yeah.” I replied, pressing my ear to the quivering wall. I glanced ahead to see that the hallway in front of us was caved in. The door to the room beyond this wall was probably blocked. This would explain why nobody was out yet.
“Do your thing!” I said while backing up. I could have done it myself, but Tex was having way too much fun with it.
Tex, probably feeling incredibly useful at this point backed up as far as his size would allow him, then slammed himself against the wall with his shoulder and grinning like a three thousand pound line-backer gut-checking the quarterback. The wall itself cracked, then gave way to the force and sure enough, Tex was in the next room.
I stepped through to find myself inside the Dining facility. Sure enough, a group of people where huddled in the corner, frightened and white-faced. Judging by their expressions, they where under the impression that they where going to die and when Tex came crashing through the wall, they thought they had it coming.
There was one amongst them that was white, but unafraid. I was glad to see Nagiko run up to us in a near fit of joy.
“Damn, I’m so glad to see you guys!” he said, surprising me to hear him actually curse. “We where almost out when the door got blocked. I’m not strong enough to actually break the wall down!”
“Let’s get them out of here.” I said as Tex took the initiative and ran up to the frightened group of humans.
“Come on you idiots!” he was saying. “We’re not going to hurt you so you’d better hop on or you will actually die!”
“Where’s Umie?” I asked, realizing that she was nowhere in sight. I could still feel a light pain, possibly indicating that she’d been injured. This made me worry more.
“She split away from us to find the rest of the humans.” Nagi replied, looking very serious. “You mean that she didn’t make it out yet?”
“You guys go on ahead.” I said to him. “I have to find Umie!”
At that moment, the floor began to quake even more. The strong scent of fear met my nose as the ceiling above us began to crack.
“Time to go!” Tex said as he, with the group of startled humans on his back, ran up and grabbed Nagi and me. He leaped through the hole and into the hallway, which was also beginning to crumble at that point. Lights and snapped wires rained sparks down on top of us.
I struggled, trying to free myself from his tight grip. He was surprisingly much stronger than me and I wasn’t able to free myself from his grasp.
“Wait!” I exclaimed. “I have to find Umie!”
Tex frowned and continued running.
“She’ll be fine.” He said to me. “There’s no sense in you going any further and getting yourself killed in the process. If something happened to you, my mother would kick my ass for sure!”
“Tex, please!” I pleaded. The thought of using my powers to get him to let me go came to mind, but I didn’t want to hurt him, and yet I would have done anything to save her.
By then it was too late, the moment we got outside the building behind us began to burst into flame and smoke. Then a blast came up behind us through the door and gave Tex quite a hard shove, causing Nagi and I to be thrown from his grasp.
After landing on my hands, flipping myself over, I felt guilty at that moment. For if they waited another second for me, they would have all been engulfed in flame and most likely killed. To my horror, I did not see Umie anywhere at all.
“Oh man…”
Nagi stood by my side and watched as the laboratory began to explode and collapse completely, making me want to sink down to my knees and melt into the earth. The pain had subsided, but that did not wither my concerns. That was not going to happen until she was in my sight, alive and well.
Then again, this was my last chance to do something about it. The inferno did not frighten me and part of the building was still standing. Without a second thought, I took off running for the entrance once again.
“Pagasis!” Tex roared behind me. “Wait!”
“I’m sorry.” I said as I continued running. I wasn’t going to be held back. I promised myself I wasn’t going to be held back anymore and there was no way that she was going to die because of me.
Suddenly, another large explosion erupted from within and sent a shockwave, sending me backward again.
“No!”
I pounded my fist hard against the ground as I got to my knees. This was not happening. I wasn’t going to loose her.
Just then, Nagi and Tex both appeared next to me.
Nagi helped me to my feet. I wouldn’t have let him if my body didn’t feel like mush at that point. My mind was completely blank and I couldn’t hear anything besides the rapid thudding of my heart inside my chest. That cold feeling was taking over again, making the world feel numb and lifeless. A voice inside my head was begging me to calm down, but I couldn’t make out who’s voice it was.
“Look there!” Tex suddenly exclaimed, pointing at something. His eyes where wide with shock.
I felt my head raise and my stomach do a summersault.
Out of the raging inferno and rubble, a single figure was walking toward us. It was difficult to make out who or what it was until it got close enough to see clearly.
It was Torrik, and Umie was in his arms.
“Umie!” I stood up, feeling my body gradually getting its feeling back. I wanted to run up to them, but it seemed as though my feet where glued to the ground. Perhaps I was a doubt in my mind that this wasn’t some kind of sick illusion or somebody playing tricks on me. It wasn’t like me to think so negatively, but out of everything that was happening, it was nearly impossible to look at the bright side.
“She’s fine.” Torrik said to me when he got close enough to speak. “Just stunned.”
“You’re alive!” Tex exclaimed. “We thought that the other experiment killed you off!”
“There’s a reason why they call me Darkside Phantom.” Torrik replied, giving me a little smile. For some reason, it made me feel a bit better. Even if this was his clone. “So, Pagasis, did you manage to get the original Esthenia and Torrik out of there?”
I nodded, smiling back at him.
“Well, let’s go then.” He said, still carrying Umie in his arms. “We should get away from this place as far as possible. This chick is heavier than she looks!”

“You made it!” Robert exclaimed as we entered the clearing where the rest of the humans where also gathered. Tex had probably instructed them to go here earlier so they’d be safe from the explosion.
“Well, of course we did!” Tex said as he cast the humans a stern glare. He seemed to have a loathing for each and every one of them though he was the one that save their lives. “And what do you morons have to say for yourselves?”
The henchmen grew silent while two of the doctors stepped up. The third, which I figured was Frank, was most likely hiding somewhere because I didn’t see him anywhere.
“We aren’t in any position to say anything.” The one with the black hair said a bit timidly. “We made a huge mistake and it nearly cost us our lives if you hadn’t save us.”
“And what about to him!” Tex growled while pointing at Robert, who modestly glanced away and waved his hand as if he didn’t care.
The other man with the red hair let out a sigh and walked up to him. Placing a hand on his shoulder, he obviously wasn’t afraid to speak his mind.
“Robert.” He said, sounding apologetic. “We knew it was wrong for him to throw you out, but Paul had grown crazy over this whole thing and we where too afraid to say anything. I suppose it began to affect us as well. I wouldn’t be surprised if you never forgave us, but we owe you and these fascinating creatures here our lives, so if there’s anything we can ever do for you, name it.”
Robert just smiled back at him.
“It’s okay.” He said. “Let’s just go home and forget that we ever set foot in this place.”
Thinking that wouldn’t be hard since I was going to swipe their memories anyway, I saw Torrik out of the corner of my eye and watched as he laid Umie on the ground next to Esthenia.
I walked over to him as he examined his original self, still curled up as if he where in a deep sleep. He let out a sigh.
“You know…” he said with a smile. “I bet that when they wake up, they’re going to think of this whole thing as some kind of crazy dream.”
“You’re probably right.” I chuckled back. “I’m kind of used to seeing him like this.”
“So what’s going to happen now?” I found myself asking. My mind was jumping around on all of the possible things that could happen next, but where to go from here was way beyond me.
“The only thing that can happen.” Torrik replied. “Though they’ve captured him and created me, I still escaped to do one thing and that was to bring you all here to save them but I never thought about what to do afterward.”
“How did you know us?” I asked him curiously.
“At first I didn’t.” he admitted. “I escaped on what I thought was basic instinct, but as time went by, I suddenly began to remember. It was as if I had a life at one point and that I needed to get it back.”
I opened my mouth to say something else, but was interrupted by a voice from above.
“What was that?” I asked, not hearing it clearly.
Once again, both Goddesses where standing up high on a tree-branch, watching us with grins on their faces. It seemed to me that they really enjoyed appearing out of nowhere in high places.
“Enough standing around chatting.” The Goddess Esthenia hissed while folding her arms across her chest. “You know what to do, horse-boy. Send those humans back.”
“Do not worry. The demon monster has been disposed of.” Tswuki Mona explained clearly so that everyone could hear. I guessed that she did this because she didn’t want the humans to leave the world in fear; an oddly considerate thing for her to do. “What happened to your friend can be easily explained and hopefully you shall all learn from it. I do not want to see or hear from any of you again. Next time I will not spare your lives.”
“Right…” I said, figuring she’d add something like that, I turned to the group of humans who where silent and wide-eyed once again. It was obvious that these two women scared them more than anything. However, it seemed that it was definitely clear to them of damage they had caused and their fear was more for their guilty conscience than of the goddesses themselves.
“I’m ready when you are.” Robert said to me, his two colleagues by his side. Frank was still nowhere to be seen.
“Okay, stand back.” I said while rubbing my hands together. I’ve done this before and it took a lot of concentration. More people meant that the portal had to be much larger since they all had to pass through at the same time. I focused my energy as hard as I could until a ball of light appeared in my hands, similar to the one Esthenia and Umie had, only much larger. I handed it to Robert.
“Okay, as strange as this may sound, all of you must be touching each other for it to work.” I explained loudly so that everyone could hear me.
The men glanced at each other for a moment until they finally got the concept and started to take each other’s hand. Though the moment at hand was somewhat serious, there where still a few comments and snickers that buzzed through the group.
“Hey, there you are, Frankie.” The doctor with the black hair snickered. It appeared that the little coward was hiding out in the back of the group. “So you did make it out you little rat.”
Frank tried to make it as though he didn’t know what the man was saying. He looked panic stricken because nobody wanted to hold his hand let alone touch him. It seemed as though everyone knew that he was bad news.
“Come on you guys!” Frank exclaimed while stumbling toward us. “You know as well as I do that Paul went crazy. I had no choice…”
“Save it.” The red haired doctor said. “We all knew that we where doing something wrong but we weren’t doing it to kiss his ass either.”
“But he was going to kill me Lukas!”
“You cowardly liar.” Lukas said with somewhat of an evil grin. “You where the one who gave him the idea to cast out Robert and it was also because of you we lost Michael.”
“I was about to ask what happened to him…” Robert said thoughtfully.
“We’ll explain later.” The black haired man I assumed was Bill said. “Let’s get out of here.”
“Right.” Robert sighed as Nagiko appeared next to him. “Nagi,” he gasped. “I’m sorry, I didn’t think that-“
“What?” Nagi interrupted with a grin. “Did you really think I’d stay here and leave my master unprotected?” He then placed his hand on Robert’s shoulder. “I may have turned into what I am now because of that girl, but she’s safe now, so there’s no reason for me to stay. I just want to be a normal dog again.”
Robert just smiled as Bill took his other hand while he held Frank’s in the other and appeared to squeeze it very tight because Frank seemed to be wincing from something painful. That was when Luke took Frank’s other hand and did the same thing, only he was grinning. The sound of cracking knuckles met my ears.
“We’re going to have some fun when we get home, Frankie.” He was saying.
“Okay, now imagine the last place you where in inside your heads.” I explained to everyone. “It has to be the same image, or it won’t work.”
“All right.” Robert nodded. He then smiled at me. “Thank you all for what you’ve done for us.”
“I should be thanking you.” I said while rolling my eyes. “But we could go on forever with the thanking each other so instead, let’s just leave it at that and say goodbye instead.”
Robert laughed.
“Sure thing. I’m going to miss you guys.”
“Shut up, human.” Tex hissed while folding his arms. “Don’t go thinking that we had something special between us.”
“I’ll miss you too.” Robert chuckled at him. “And your big mouth.”
Tex just turned slightly away so nobody would see that he was smiling.
“Yeah… whatever. Just take care of yourself.”
“Goodbye.” Nagiko said to me. “Watch over that girl for me now!”
I just shook my head as every human closed their eyes. Moments later, they all vanished. The last thing I saw was Nagi and Robert both smiling at me identically. Perhaps I smiled back just the same. Either way, I was glad that the process went smoothly.
“Well then.” The Chaos Goddess said with a smile as she descended from the tree. “Time to take care of the rest of the business.”
“What do you mean?” I asked as she walked up to Torrik.
“I mean that sadly, I’m going to have to take him with us.” She replied. “He has no more purpose in being here.”
“You can’t!” Tex exclaimed. “He might just be a clone but he’s still a living thing! Why can’t he just stay here and become a Guardian? We all have a purpose in this world! So why can’t he be a part of that?”
“The thought is possible in his case.” Tswuki Mona said, from behind me. She had appeared there without anyone’s notice. “But you have to think about the possibility of there being two of him, and only one of her. In order to successfully clone somebody, you have to also create a complete copy of their soul. This was possible for Torrik since his soul belongs to this world. Esthenia, however, cannot be completely duplicated because her soul is human. That would mean that another island has to be created for it to work. It contradicts with the laws of this world.”
“It makes sense.” I said thoughtfully. “It is impossible to create another island within this world. That would be like an island creating another within itself. It just isn’t possible.”
“That is correct.” The Death Goddess nodded. “Esthenia’s clone is actually soulless at the moment because you evoked it out of her. Though that chip had the power to control her body, it could never control her soul. That was why she was her complete self when she was around you. Your presence inspired that soul to fight the system.”
“Don’t worry about me.” Torrik said, giving me a reassuring smile. “Don’t forget that he and I are the same. We feel each other’s thoughts and feelings. When he wakes up, he’ll probably remember and know everything that happened.”
“So what will happen to you?” Tex questioned.
“He will be joining me into oblivion.” The Goddess Esthenia said. She then held out her hand to him and smiled. “I’ve been wanting to do this a long time, you know.” She said to him. “I may be a demon, but I remember the person I loved when I was mortal. Surely if you have his soul you’d remember me.”
“I do.” Torrik smiled as he took her hand.
Tswuki Mona grinned at me. “Don’t fret on it, horse. The original Torrik will not be replaced. We granted him human immortality for a reason. When his, Esthenia, and your time are up in this world, you will replace us someday. You have already gained the powers of a god, but it will take you all a lifetime to understand what it takes to be one. In the meantime, grow strong and learn much, for when it’s your turn, you will be the ones calling the shots.”
She then walked up to Esthenia’s clone, who lay motionless next to the original.
“I will be taking her with me too.” She said while lifting the lifeless body up into her arms. “Perhaps I could have some fun with it.”
Not wanting to think of what type of fun she could have with such a thing, her next words snapped me from my bad thoughts.
“And I suppose you won’t be needing that anymore.” She said while snapping her fingers.
At that moment, the weight that was around my neck suddenly vanished and the collar appeared in her hand. It startled me for a second, feeling how light my head suddenly felt.
“Thank you.” I nodded while massaging the place the collar once occupied. “And I was meaning to ask you… What does that symbol on the lock mean?”
“This,” she said, lightly lifting the lock in her fingers, “is my seal. It is indeed the number three, because my position is ranked as such. Chaos is number thirteen.”
“So who’s ranked as number one?” Tex asked curiously.
Tswuki Mona’s eyes narrowed as her smile grew incredibly wide; almost like a sneer.
“That is for the horse to find out…”
“Well, you’re all interesting and all…” The Goddess Esthenia said with a bored expression on her face. “But I think this is the part where we make our leave.” She then smiled and turned as though she where flaunting herself and blew us a kiss before vanishing.
“Well, so long.” Torrik said with a slight wave, vanishing after her.
Tswuki Mona merely nodded and disappeared with the clone of Esthenia cradled in her arms.
I was a bit disappointed to see them leave so fast. Too many questions where dwelling in my mind to be ignored. Perhaps it was for the better considering that I’d find out the answers eventually at my own pace. There was no fun in knowing everything before hand anyway and it just took away the event of learning something new.
Tex and I let out a sigh as we turned to our three sleeping friends. What to do next was beyond us. All we could really do was sit back and wait for them to wake up. He just shook his head as he stared.
“You know, they look like a family.” He stated.
This made me smile when I realized that Tex had no clue. It seemed that he always discovered the likenesses of others, but never put two and two together.
“Actually… they are.” I chuckled. “That would make you uncle…”
“Geeze that makes me feel old.”
The first one to wake up was Umie. She was startled and a bit annoyed that she almost didn’t make it out alive, but was glad to see that everyone else was okay.
“I am a fire element!” she hissed, obviously feeling retarded because she’d smacked herself on the forehead. “How can I pass out from smoke inhalation?”
Figuring it was a good idea to leave as soon as possible, she wasn’t going to wait until they woke up.
“I don’t want to have to say goodbye to more people than I have to.” She said. “Then it sucks to leave.” Suddenly gasping, she did a little hop and dug into her top and pulled out my necklace and said, “I almost forgot! I suppose you want this back.”
While staring at it for a moment, I couldn’t help but grin a little. For the charm was old and frayed to the point of the beads even loosing their blue color, but the history of it had become somewhat remarkable. Long ago, it had been given to me by the Omogoa tribe’s shaman to keep my heart at peace and stopped me from becoming a demon monster. It managed to travel back and fourth between the worlds and even link the minds of Esthenia and myself years after. Suddenly, when Umie had come to possess it, another magical ability presented itself. Oddly enough, it was a combination of its uses and it was nearly twice as powerful. Putting two and two together, I realized that when Umie wore it around her neck, our hearts had become connected.
At that point, I was willing to let it travel to another world.
“You keep it.” I told her.
“But, Pagasis!” she exclaimed, suddenly looking very shocked. “I can’t! This means a lot to you! I can’t just take it!”
“It means more to me when I can feel you there.” I nodded. “So don’t worry.”
She smiled sheepishly as though she didn’t care, but the look in her eyes showed that she felt the same way. Reaching up, she held the tiny dream catcher in her hand next to her heart.
Before she could say another word, I took a step forward and embraced her. I wanted to do that for a long time and it was unfortunate that it had to be right before she left. Then again, maybe it was for the better.
“I’ll miss you.” She said to me while grabbing my shirt. “And I’m sorry I shot you.”
Almost forgetting about that, I laughed and gave her a kiss on her forehead. “I don’t care. You just be good.”
I let her go to see that her face was incredibly red. Letting out a hiss, she quickly turned away when she realized that her face had grown so warm.
“Why are you blushing?” Tex asked her with a smirk.
“Shut up… uncle…” she said even more awkwardly. “I don’t know you, but you seem kind of cool. The goggles are a nice touch by the way.”
“Oh, I almost forgot I had those.” Tex murmured while lightly placing his hand on the spectacles that rested on his head.
It seemed that like Tex, Umie had a knack for pointing out things only they where things that people had forgotten and she reminded of them of it because she happened to bring it up again.
That sounded confusing in my head too.
“I suppose your world will be back to normal.” I said to her as she made her orb appear. “If not, then you’re welcome to come back and kill me anytime.”
“You’d better believe it.” She grinned awkwardly. “So… Okay, I’m going now. I’ll see you again someday!”
“You will.” I nodded.
With that, Umie was gone.
* * * * * * * * *

Epilogue

It would be perhaps a matter of minutes, hours or even days before they woke up, but that didn’t matter because our journey had come to an end. The danger was over and all questions had been answered. The only next stop we had was to go back home to resume our normal lives.
We really had no clue what to expect when Esthenia and Torrik woke up. Perhaps they’d remember everything that happened to them, or maybe they already forgot and would plague us with questions the moment they open their eyes. Either way, we would still have to tell everyone back home whether we wanted to or not.
When that moment finally arrived about a day later, their reactions where just as expected. Esthenia was incredibly confused as to how she got to where she was and broke out into hysterics while Torrik looked as though he woke up from a nap. Remarkably, neither one of them remembered a thing that happened to them. Perhaps it was the will of the gods for them not to recall such a horrible event.
Instead, they somehow knew what happened through a dream that both of them had. They said that it appeared to happen through the eyes of another. They could never really clearly state through who’s eyes but I had a feeling of who was behind it. Nobody grinned more than Aslynn when we got back. The light of knowing danced in her glimmering eyes the first moment our glances met.
Tex went back to his own island and faced his mother with Torrik by his side. He had a wide grin on his face to see the look on Castirio’s face when both he and Torrik appeared behind her, startling her of course. Her injuries had healed and the island did as well after the terrible battle between the Ceair Guardians and the demons. Everything seemed to be back to normal. However, Tex suddenly started to get quite a bit of female attention upon his return. He figured it was because of the masculine charm he picked up from me, but I knew that it was because of the shiny specks he wore on his head. Females always seem to be attracted to the pretty stuff.
Though we said our goodbyes, Tex and I still kept in touch and visited each other often. It was nice to have more friends around and he was definitely an exciting one to be around; especially when he made fun of his mother. I’d laugh and watch as she chased him around, but for some reason could never catch him. Instead she’d end up cursing or throwing rocks at him or something.
After our stop in Ceair, we headed back home to Esthenia. Of course we had a welcoming committee in the meadow as always that consisted of both Omogoa tribe alphas, shaman, the rowdy warriors, hunters, disgruntled babysitter, and my old friend Rinoa along with her sons. All of them overjoyed that their most prized Guardian returned to them. Not because Esthenia was the heart of the island, but because she became part of the family there and nobody cherished each other more than the Omogoa tribe.
That night, they held a celebration for our return which ended up being quite interesting as usual. There was much drinking, singing and laughter from all around. The night filled with the sound of music and wolves howling. It was just as I remembered from the old times. To celebrate one’s achievements was also a big deal to them but nobody grinned wider than me that night.
Kiea was safe and sound as expected. She didn’t tell anyone about her conquest in the human world with Umie, but she gave me a look that told me that she knew everything and that was the end of that.
For a while, I sat back next to Rinoa and watched the girls dance around. The scene was normal to me since this is what usually happened at the parties. Mona would always talk Esthenia into dancing with her, but this time Kiea and Aslynn joined them instead of singing like they usually did. Then the reoccurring episode of them trying to get me to go dance happened, and Torrik didn’t help with his usual taunting and calling me a “wuss”. Eventually, for the first time ever, I got up and danced with them. It wasn’t because I was coxed by their words, but because I started to think that if there where ever a chance they where snatched away from me again, I wouldn’t regret a moment of being around them, doing the things that they enjoyed doing; even if I ended up making myself look like an idiot in the process.

I had a hunch that about three years later, I’d be standing on the cliff-side shore of my home island, holding the hand of a small child named Umie. Although the feeling was normal, the scene itself seemed almost too difficult to believe. Years back, Umie herself told me that she’d never seen me before, but at that moment, glancing down at the small child, I knew that the future she’d been looking for was now within her grasp. I was now appointed as her personal Guardian in her mother’s place, but Esthenia knew that I’d never quit being hers as well. Little Umie enjoyed the island life and even spent a lot of time playing with the Omogoa pups. She grew stronger every year. I never told her that she’d grow into such a restless and pretty young woman since she’d find out for herself someday.
Esthenia, resembling much of her future self, surprisingly grew into a fine mother. However, it seemed that the experiences of motherhood made her moodiness take on a whole new meaning. At times it drove me crazy, but that was normal. Though she gradually began to forget her past as a human, she still concerned herself with her sister island Ceair. At times she’d fly across the sea just to be there. She’d tell me that she could sometimes hear her younger sister’s thoughts and feelings and would reply them, hoping that she could hear it too.
Knowing of the fate that was bestowed upon us, she knew that someday she was going to be Chaos, but whether or not she was to become a demon was uncertain.
It was a long time before I saw the current Chaos Goddess. It appeared that she kept a close eye on us since I felt her presence often, but only once did I manage to catch a glimpse of her. I hadn’t seen her since the last time she’d actually spoken to me, but felt it was all the better since it managed to spark my curiosity about whatever happened to the clone of Torrik; whether or not they made him into a god. I had a feeling that a question like that should remain unanswered.
However, there was a rumor drifting around about Guardians sensing strange things in the wind and smell the scent of death in the air. Perhaps he’d taken the place of Tswuki Mona as the Death God. For some reason, the role seemed to fit him.
Torrik himself did his usual thing of jumping back and fourth between islands. It wasn’t quite like him to stay in one place for too long. At times he’d take Esthenia with him because he knew how much she hated being left out, but ever since the birth of his daughter, he hung around our island a lot more to spend time with her like any father would. He still managed to visit his sister as much as he could. Their bond was tighter than ever and even if she gradually grew old, she would always be his big-little sister.
As for me, I just kept doing my own thing. Sure, living on an island wasn’t quite eventful, but the pride of being its protector made me feel happier every time I stood there in the meadow, looking out at the rest of the world. Sure, it had its horrible darkened days, but without the darkness there is no light.
Whatever happened to me in the future was of no concern to me at all. Then again, the past wasn’t either. To dwell on both only clouded what was really important and that was the events happening at that very moment. The path may have been laid out, but past experiences have proved that the future could be altered in some way. It was amazing how one single flaw could disrupt the current of time. Maybe the unfortunate events where caused by Chaos herself since she did say that all things happened for a reason.
Taking in the scent of the sea, listening to the sound of Esthenia’s happiness inside my head, feeling the warmth of Umie in my heart, I was at home here, and nothing was ever going to take that away from me.
I took a step back and turned to see a sphinx come running at me from the forest. Transforming back into a horse, I took off at a dead sprint with Esthenia on my heels. Soon enough, we where running side by side in this meadow, bringing us back to the place where we first met; where a solitary apple tree stood sturdy on thousand year old roots. We lay beside it, our eyes closed and sleeping soundly. At one point I woke up to see Esthenia smile while she dreamed.
For about eight years ago, and somewhere normal outside this world, Christy Miller awoke with a start.