Fun Fact: Despite how much Arcani exists in the world, the human race is the only species that is largely affected by it. Animals and plants evolved without magic, and it is rare to find one that has magical properties.
~ ~ ~
Gaius jogged along the corridors, making sure to keep up with his female companion. Parthena was not exactly moving as fast as an athlete, but he could tell from her jagged breaths that she was already sprinting as fast as she could. He pursed his lips with worry; those friends of hers had better not have started the party without them.
The sound of people shouting at each other assuaged his fears as he turned into the main church auditorium.
“Sophistry! Blasphemy! Have all of you gone quite mad?”
“Orion!” Parthena rushed to the church leader’s side, almost knocking into Gaius in the process.
Orion was pointing a knife at his church members. His feet were planted firmly on the ground, although his hand was very clearly trembling. A female church member stepped forward, blocking the Lucifer statue from his weapon.
“Why, Orion? You, of all people, should understand why we must do this.” A hood was covering her head, but the crazed grin on her face glinted sinisterly in the dim lighting. “I guess you were an uninspired fool after all.”
“You lot are the real fools!” Orion retorted. “Never have I taught you to harm yourselves in the name of beauty!”
“Tch, your teachings pale compared to His wisdom,” a dark voice spoke from within the crowd. “Lucifer has already used this Rapture to reveal the truth to us all.”
The church members parted dramatically, revealing a boy no older than twenty years. The ground clanged with a slow rhythm as he walked towards Orion with a slight limp, leaning on his staff for support with every step he took.
“There is but one truth. So long as we yet live in these imperfect vessels, we will never be free from despair and sorrow, pain and suffering. Even now, our hearts sing for deliverance. Our souls cry out for oblivion.”
He chuckled.
“And to this chorus of anguish, He has orchestrated our salvation!” Purplish particles began covering the young Shaman’s eyes as the crystal on his staff shimmered. “There is no need to struggle, for in our new vessels awaits paradise. He has shown us what true beauty is. At long last, we will know serenity and perfection. And it… Will… Be… Beautiful.”
Orion backed away, shaking his head in utter horror and disbelief. His weapon clattered onto the floor as his hand lay limply by his side.
“You’re hopeless… All of you…” Tears rolled down his cheeks. “I have failed as a leader… What have I done…? What did I do… wrong?”
“You have done nothing wrong, Orion. You were a good teacher, but you were simply not chosen,” the boy continued. “Such is the answer to our existence. Such is the beautiful gift He has offered us. But a gift should only belong to one person.”
Everyone turned their heads to the boy in shock.
“Me.”
“Get back!” Gaius yelled in warning, but it was too late.
The air rumbled all around the room, accompanied by the crazed cackle bursting from the Shaman’s bleeding mouth. His eyes burst outwards from his face with a splatter of gore as he swelled to three times his size. Multiple raptorial claws exploded from its back, spreading themselves out like the world’s ugliest praying mantis.
Orion flinched and fell over his feet as the Abomination swung his claws in a circle, instantly decapitating all the church members who were standing too close to him.
“C’mon, Orion. We gotta keep moving,” Gaius muttered urgently as he pulled the shivering church leader back to his feet.
A large shadow loomed over them as the monster shrieked, raising a hammer-like appendage above their heads.
Gaius raised a hand to receive it.
The bone-shattering force rippled through him, carried by waves of Arcani as he twisted his body in tandem with the pulsing current travelling through his body. Power glowed fiercely at the edge of his palm, and Gaius released the energy from the devastating blow with twice the amount of force.
A high-pitched shriek rang out as the monster reeled backwards from the powerful blow, struggling to keep its balance. The counterattack had sliced through it cleanly, leaving the upper half of its body hanging only by a fraction of flesh.
“Get out of here!” Gaius yelled, ushering the two civilians towards the exit. They obeyed without hesitation. The hairs on his neck stood on their end.
He turned around. It was too late.
A scaly tail was less than an inch from his head, and there was no deflecting it this time. The boy flipped his body over, allowing his back to take the hit instead. Air burst from his mouth as the world tumbled all around him, but his bearings were never clearer.
Hard concrete met his soles, and Gaius sprang his body back from the wall. He growled as the Abomination fixed its body easily. It was just his luck; that monster had regenerative abilities as well.
Anger and frustration flared in his eyes as he spun his body through the hailstorm of sharpened bone flung in his direction.
“Damn you! Die… die… Die!”
The Sorcerer moved in a blur, slicing off dozens of claws with the blades on his gauntlet. Energy was rippling dangerously through his Arcani channels now, but this was no time for precaution. Gaius released a primal, almost inhuman roar as he threw an energised punch at the lunging creature.
His fist went clean through its body. The Abomination staggered around, screeching in apparent pain.
Gaius charged energy in his hands again, but the turbulence of Arcani in his body was now surging dangerously out of control. He released an animalistic bellow, struggling to control the explosion of his pent-up emotions that were only goading the anarchy in his veins.
“What is… happening…?” He clutched his head as his skin began to crack, leaking orange light out. The strange, chaotic pain ravaged his body again, and he gasped in fear this time. He had seen this before.
A voice spoke.
Destroy. Destroy the world.
“H— Help…” Gaius charged blindly at the regenerating monster, slamming it through the wall with abnormally huge strength. “GROOAAH!”
Images flashed before his eyes, but they were moving too fast to make out. More energy burst from his eyes as he caught a brief glimpse of a man with a bald head grinning sinisterly.
“Abaddon…?” he breathed. The voice rang in his head again.
It is our destiny.
The boy screamed as his body cracked further, reality beginning to break down within him. He curled up on the floor, shivering as Arcani warped dangerously. Anger ebbed away as fear gushed in its place.
No, I can’t perish now… My friends… They still need me…
The energy in its body calmed down almost in response to his desperate plea, and the boy took a moment to close his eyes in relief. It was over, for now. Gaius craned his neck, looking for the Abomination again.
It was gone.
Confusion flooded him. Why didn’t it attack him while he was still incapacitated—
He spotted the lower half of his own body a few metres away, apparently sliced off by the Abomination in the commotion.
Oh. So, that’s why.
The ground shuddered with the footsteps of something heavy, although it sounded like it came from a distance away. Gaius wriggled around for a better look, but it was pointless now. The monster had lost its interest in him.
His heart skipped a beat as he widened his eyes with sudden realisation. No, the Abomination didn’t lose interest. It was still hunting.
But he was no longer its prey.
Gaius crawled towards his legs desperately.
~ ~ ~
Desperate footsteps echoed through the corridors as the ground shook with lumbering footsteps from behind. Her lungs burned. Her sobs choked her breaths. But Parthena did not dare stop running. The corridor felt wider than she remembered, and she felt more exposed than ever.
“Parthena, slow down…” Orion’s ragged breaths called out weakly.
“N— No, Orion. We can’t stop yet. Not here.”
“I’m sorry. I can’t… go on. Get away from me. Save… yourself.”
The girl turned back and stifled a gasp. She fell to her knees, nudging the man lying motionless on the floor with a bloodied hole in his back.
“No! Get up, Orion… Please get up…” Tears seeped into the blood, soaking the flared ends of her dress. “Come on, this isn’t funny. There’s no use playing dead now…”
The ground rumbled as the crimson eyes in the dark slowly got larger.
“Let’s go home together, brother…” She slung his lifeless body over her shoulder, struggling to pull it to its feet. “You’re just tired, right? Come, you can lean on me this time. I won’t … leave you alone…”
Parthena dragged Orion’s body slowly on the floor with a delirious smile on her face. They were going to get out of here together. Her first friend. Her only family. She just needed to keep moving forward. They just needed to stick together, like they always have.
A hulking figure revealed itself from the shadows in front of her. She turned her head back stupidly, as though it wasn’t already obvious enough that the monster was intent on playing with its food.
Its grotesque face came into view as it loomed over the girl, clacking its pincers in a way that almost resembled a laugh.
Parthena did not scream this time. She did not even move. After all, where else could she go? Without her friends, where else did she want to go? The Abomination opened its mouth slowly as Parthena stared into its eyes. It looked… beautiful, somehow. Orion’s corpse rolled onto the floor as her hands fell limply to the side.
Perhaps death wasn’t that bad after all—
Flashes of blue light pelted against the Abomination without warning, making it shriek in anger.
A soft hand seized Parthena’s wrist and pulled her into a dark corner.292Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkBvjCknI83
