I mulled over the options in my head as I sat on the rusted-out vehicle. One of the tentacles had grabbed a hold of rebar and had been hastily etching out minute details into the wet pavement before scratching them out to start again.
‘Why are you working so hard on this?’ I flinched as the rebar clattered to the ground. ‘Give it up already, Animae.’ The tendril picked up the rebar again before it fell to the ground at the next exclamation. ‘Knock it off so I can go home!’
“Shut up!” I growled. “If I wanted your opinion, I’d ask for it, Cordis.”
He grew quiet for a moment before he started snickering. ‘Not like you can really stop me from giving it, Animae.’His snickering grew louder as the rebar was picked up again. ‘Tell me what you’re doing unless you prefer me finding out myself.’
I grimaced at the idea of it before feeling a stabbing pain in the side of my head. “C-Cord –!” I held the side of it before raking my fingers downwards as the pain intensified. “Ok!”
‘Ok, what?’
I winced as I slid off the vehicle. “Stop—!” He was giving me a splitting headache. “Cord—!”
He hummed more so to himself before chuckling, ‘Ah, so that’s what you had in mind. Do you even think that’s going to work?’
I dropped to one knee before one of the tentacles pulled me back up to sit on the car again. “Cor—”
‘You wouldn’t be revising it so much if you did.’ He then grew silent momentarily as the Level One that had been hanging around slithered out from beneath the car to stare at me with bulgy, yellow eyes. ‘It’s easier to just let them die.” It then spit up a cracked, white cellphone. ‘Ah.’
“Cor—”
‘I know who to start with so why don’t you take a little break?’
Cordis toyed with the phone before chuckling as he managed to turn on the device. Growling from the One alerted him to another’s presence though he continued to go through the phone. When nothing was said, he tilted his to the side before looking over his shoulder.
“Ignatius should be waking soon,” Talon said, “so come inside to discuss this plan of –” Snickering interrupted the man in yellow. “We don’t have time for this. Where’s Jayden, Cordis?”
“How do you know I’m not Jayden?”
“I doubt he’d be laughing given the current circumstances,” Talon replied grudgingly. “Switch or whatever it is that you do so we can hear this plan! We’re wasting time!”
“He’s taking a little break at the moment,” Cordis replied, “but I’m getting the impression you don’t want to talk with me.”
“I want to talk to the one that has the plan.”
“How do you know I don’t have the plan?”
“Do you have one?” That took the blonde by surprise. “Joking aside, I don’t exactly trust you.”
“You don’t trust me?” The blonde started snickering before it turned into derisive laughter. “That’s rich coming from you. You’re the last person to be throwing around that word,” Cordis scoffed as he viewed the text history. “You know, it’s crazy you never thought to send a message seeing how this place has crazy good service.” He then dropped the phone to crush beneath his foot as he hopped to his feet. “Such a waste.”
“Switch with Jayden so we can hear the plan.”
“I hate repeating myself,” he replied as the scythe appeared in hand. “He’s taking a break.”
“Now is not the time for a break!” Talon snapped. “Bring Jayden out now!”
“Look at you being assertive,” Cordis teased as he rounded the vehicle. “If I liked you even a little, I may have dared to say it was kinda cute.”
As Cordis drew near, Talon could make out the deep gashes marring the side of the man’s face. It looked as if something had been trying to carve through it while that oily liquid staining his skin showed how much it had paled. The way Cordis was grinning either meant that he hadn’t noticed or he didn’t care.
The portal maker deduced the latter.
A blade swinging caught Talon across the palms before the man evaded a swing to the head. Running ahead to avoid being swung at a second time, Talon came to a halt when the secondary blade swung to rest below his chin. Backtracking as the blade started to press against his neck, Talon dared to glance over his shoulder to see Cordis eyeing him.
“Cordis, let Jayden out so we can hear this plan.”
“What do you gain from all this?” he questioned. “Hearing this plan and all.”
“Would it help if I answered selfishly?” As the blade nicked him, Talon slowly turned to face the blonde. “I don’t want to die; same as you.”
Cordis snorted. “Joke’s on you. I’ve been dead for a while.” He then sobered much too quickly. “It’s just a matter of how many fucking times it’s been since being here. Want to fill in the blanks on that little detail? Three, maybe six times?” Talon grimaced. “Fifty? Three hundred? Tell me if I’m fucking close, Talon,” Cordis said irritably before shoving the man back far enough to take another swing. “How many times have we died?” He swung again and again. “Tell me, you son of –!”
“I –!” Talon avoided the swing to his throat. He then evaded the swing to his chest and side before bumping into the rusted-out car the man had previously been sitting on. “I don’t know!” he shouted as the blade swung at his head again. He then swallowed the lump in his throat as he stared the point of the blade that stopped shy of his face. “I don’t know how many times, ok?!”
“What do you mean ‘you don’t know how many times’?” Cordis growled prior to reeling the weapon back. “You’re lying!”
“Why would I lie?!”
Jumping out the way as the scythe came crashing down, Talon watched as the vehicle was cut in two before Cordis turned his attention to him once more.
“Do you expect for me to believe anything you say?” he asked before wiping the black liquid from his nose. “After all these cycles?!”
“What would I gain from lying?!”
“You tell me, liar!”
“Tell you what, that you’ve been crushed by old structures half a dozen times? That you’ve bled out from injuries or bad spills at least thirty times?” Cordis lowered the scythe momentarily. “I could say that you’ve been mauled by the creatures here hundreds of times but what good would that do?! I could throw random numbers at you all day, but I don’t fucking know how many times you or Jayden or any of the others have died in this place. I. Don’t. Know!”
“You’re… lying.”
“I’m not – I don’t have time for this shit. You can be in denial all you want,” Talon groused as he distanced himself. “At this rate, I’ll just ask Vandal or Moryuu for a plan.” Being sure to keep an eye on Cordis, he then made his way back towards the warehouse. ‘We’re wasting time…’
Additional footsteps then had Talon whirring around in time to make a portal to send away the man that had try to attack him from behind. Closing the thing quickly, Talon let out a frustrated sigh before combing his hand through his hair. He then pushed open the door to the warehouse to see Vandal finishing up the last of his beef jerky.
“Where’s Jayden?” the gunner questioned before seeing signs of frustration on his face. “Talon?”
Talon held up his bloodied palms before turning to close the door. “Cordis was present and not helpful so he’s gone until he can cool his head.”
“So… is there no alternate plan at this time?”
To that, Talon smiled sheepishly as he approached. “Well, I was kinda hoping to work something out with you… or Moryuu once we locate him.” Vandal’s brow furrowed before he looked down at the caster. “Don’t worry; we’re still going to rescue Nuallis,” Talon assured as he lightly patted the man’s shoulder. He then removed it quickly when Vandal glanced at it then him. “So, any ideas?”
“I was kind of hoping to hear what Jayden had to say first and start from there,” he admitted before his attention went back to Ignatius as he stirred. “I suppose we could gain insight from Ignatius now that he is waking as well.” As if on cue, Ignatius woke before sitting up slowly. He was then presented with a family-sized bag of chips and a bottled water. “Help yourself.”
Going to turn down the rations, Ignatius forewent the notion as his stomach growled. Giving thanks, he began eating before looking at his companions’ expressions.
“What happened?”
“Before or after your nap?” Talon asked in attempts to lighten the mood.
Vandal’s quiet disposition hinted at something else entirely. “We need a plan.”
“A plan?” Ignatius parroted before looking around again. “Where’s Jayden?”
Vandal looked elsewhere while Talon scowled. “Cordis was present so I sent him away to cool his head.”
“Pardon?”
“Jayden had a plan and he wouldn’t share it until you were awake,” Vandal explained, “however; it looks like Cordis did something that resulted in the need of him being sent away.”
“So, there’s no plan?”
“Not at this time,” Vandal confirmed.
“I see…”
“We’ll think of something,” Talon promised as he rummaged through the first aid kit they still had.
“Allow me,” Ignatius offered as he set the bag down.
“Maybe you should take it easy,” he suggested though the caster seemed to have none of that.
Offering his hands up, Talon watched as Ignatius went to work before a large cracking sound echoed throughout the warehouse. Looking over his shoulder to see the red-light filtering through the cracks in the wall, the trio turned completely as the wall came crumbling down. As the dust settled, Talon scowled as he spotted the blonde’s silhouette.
“Sending people away isn’t nice, Talon.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me right now,” Talon grumbled as he got to his feet. “We don’t have time for this. Not now.”
Preparing for the inevitable, Talon was taken aback when Ignatius stepped forward without a second thought. Looking to Vandal to see him watching the man perplexed, Talon started towards him.
“If we all come to an agreement and leave together, it wouldn’t be sending anyone away,” Ignatius clarified with a smile.
“I do not think that’s what he meant, Ignatius,” Vandal voiced as Cordis proceeded forward, twirling the scythe in hand.
The caster looked back at the gunner then the reaper. “I want to hear your plan and opinions on the matter at hand.” His attention then went to the black substance leaking from jagged marks at the side of his face. “Perhaps take care of that… injury as well?”
The scythe came to a halt.
“Ignatius, get back here!” Talon ordered before opening a portal beneath his companion’s feet as the blade suddenly slammed downwards.
A second portal opened to drop Ignatius back at Vandal’s side before another opened to send Cordis elsewhere. Using the scythe as leverage to vault over it, Cordis beelined towards Talon before swinging at him. When the blade hit a barrier, Talon looked towards Ignatius before looking back at the blonde trying to hack his way through. When that ended abruptly, Cordis spun the weapon in hand before slamming it into the flooring to splinter it.
The crack spread before fracturing more of the flooring beneath the party. Oily fluids seeped through the cracks before low growls filled the area. Yellow eyes blinked into existence before something shot out to snag the trio by the arm or neck. As the thing around his neck began to burn, Ignatius turned his attention to troublesome thing before seeing Vandal retrieving a dagger to do the same. The gunner then set out to help the portal maker before startling as a scythe blade pierced the barrier. Another swing had the thing shattering altogether before the blade sliced the front of his clothes and chest. Pushing the reaper back to gain a safe distance, Ignatius staggered momentarily prior to healing the injury. He noticed the scythe’s latticework blackening soon after.
The blonde sprang forward once the bindings were completely dark before swinging at the group. Ignatius erected another barrier at the last moment. As Cordis swung again, the blade gave off a black aura before the collision gave off a shockwave strong enough to knock the glass out of their window frames. Cracking from below had the trio looking down to see the flooring starting to give way. Creaking followed by rafters falling from above then had Talon looking up to see a hole in the ceiling.
A thunderous boom followed by lightening had Talon on his feet instantly. “Moryuu!” He looked at the others. “We need to go.”
Rubble shifted in the cloud of dust before Talon spotted the reaper climbing to his feet. “Go where?” Cordis questioned as he fanned the years of filth away. “We’re not done.”
Talon opened a portal. “We’re going to Moryuu. You can stay here.”
“Jayden has a plan though,” Vandal stated.
“Well, we’re dealing with Cordis,” Talon reminded as the scythe slammed into the barrier. “You know, the one that wants to kill us.”
“We should still bring him,” Ignatius said as the barrier started to crack.
“Jayden has a plan and we’re going to need to hear all the options available to us,” Vandal added.
Looking back in the direction he saw the bolt, Talon heaved a heavy sigh. “Just be prepared to give us some distance.”
Making a portal large enough, Talon and the others entered before a secondary portal opened beneath Cordis. When they arrived, Ignatius pushed the man back into the row of seats before he had the chance to attack.
“Moryuu.”
“Nice to see you all get here in one piece, Talon,” Moryuu greeted.
“We can fix that,” Cordis stated as he got to his feet, scrubbing his arm across his mouth.
Lunging for the stage, Cordis growled as the scythe collided with a barrier. The second swing caused an audible crack before he was knocked back into the seating several rows back.
“Please stop this,” Ignatius requested as Cordis cut through the chairs. “We need to hear this plan.”
He then took a slight step back as the blonde bolted forward to slam the blade from above. When the attack came again to successfully shatter the barrier, Moryuu rushed forward with his tonfas to block the follow up attack.
“You have a plan?” he questioned.
“I plan on chopping that banana into pieces,” Cordis replied as he pivoted to swing at the man’s side before charging at Talon again.
“Jayden has the plan,” Ignatius corrected as a new barrier was erected, “but at this rate, we may not hear it.”
“We need him to relax so Jayden can tell us this plan,” Talon added as the blonde hacked at the weakening barrier.
“Get out of the way, overgrown turkey!”
The next strike took out the barrier before Ignatius pushed the man back. Stabbing the blade into the wood to stay in place, Cordis kicked the caster into the curtains before lunging at the portal maker.
His strike was blocked by a tonfa before he pivoted to catch Moryuu in the side. The second blade was blocked by the other tonfa before the pair separated enough for Moryuu to get between Cordis and his target. Taking in his opponent’s stance, Moryuu adjusted accordingly.
“Time to back off,” he warned as he raised the tonfas a bit.
“What, are you offering to take his place?” Cordis asked. “I still have unfinished business with you anyway.”
Moryuu blocked a swing before ramming one end of his weapon into the blonde’s stomach. Both tonfas then came up to block a downward strike.
“Why are you so dead set on attacking Talon?” Moryuu asked as he knocked Cordis back.
“Why are you so adamant on protecting him?”
“Seriously? We need him for the coming fight and to get us out of here,” came the reply. “You think there’s another way out of here?”
Cordis growled before taking aim for the man’s throat. “Even if I knew where to look, I’d forget after dying for the umpteenth time, right?!” The edge of the blade caught the man in the side. “But I’m sure you already knew that!”
Curving the blade upwards, Cordis rounded the man to get to Talon. He sidestepped the portal to swing before having his leg swept from beneath him. Rolling back to his feet, he twirled the scythe before taking aim when he saw Moryuu standing in his way.
“You’re angry but killing Talon won’t solve anything,” Moryuu pointed out.
“It’ll be therapeutic.” Their weapons clashed several times. “You’re dead so why are you even bothering with working this person?”
“When I was alive, my main goal was to protect people from monsters like this sleeping god. Of course, I would want to help prevent the death of multiple universes, especially if one of them was my home. What about you then? Do you not care if they’re destroyed by this creature?” The tonfas lowered slightly. “Trust me, you don’t want your home destroyed.”
“You throw that word around a lot,” he snarled as the dark liquid trickled from the corners of his mouth. “Why the hell should I trust either of you?!”
“I don’t think anything I say will make you trust me,” Talon said before pointing up at the reddened sky, “but look around you and trust what you see. Whether you want to trust me or not, the fact remains that will die if we don’t work together.”
“I’m already fucking dead.” Cordis gripped the scythe tighter as he glared at Moryuu. “What bullshit reason do you want to give me then? You’ve been lurking in the background this entire time!”
“It wasn’t a good time to reveal myself. I was prioritizing your safety but, before you ask, this is my first time in this loop.”
Cordis shook his head. “Self-righteous bullshit.” Twirling the scythe overhead, Cordis swung at Moryuu as he pushed Talon back and out the way. “He’s better off dead just like you.”
Small bolts of lightning circulated around the tonfas. “Last chance, Cordis.”
“We need him alive,” Talon interjected. “No more fighting!”
“He’s not exactly giving me an option here,” Moryuu pointed out.
“I want to help!” Moryuu looked towards the small girl that bounded out from behind the curtain. “Let me play with Domino too!”
The blonde looked towards the small girl before sneering, “Didn’t take you for the babysitter type.” Ravage made a face but remained in place when Moryuu signaled her to stay put. “Freaking hate kids.”
“That’s mean!” she pouted as she looked at the scythe spinning overhead.
The reaper lunged forward. “Tough, brat.”
A barrier erected last minute blocked the attack and shielded those behind it from the shockwave that cleared the first section of seats. As the heavy curtains fell to the floor, Vandal grimaced as he watched Cordis walking back towards the stage. Brushing his fingers across the holstered pistol, the gunner chose not to use it before hopping off the stage.
“Vandal–!”
“Yield, Cordis,” Vandal ordered. “We’re wasting time like this!”
“Are you offering to take Moryuu’s place now?” Cordis asked as he continued forward. “Mind you, we wouldn’t want to ruin such a handsome face.”
Gritting his teeth as he unsheathed his dagger, he noted how Cordis paused before he started chuckling. That then turned into laughter before he scrubbed a hand down his face, smearing the black liquid.
“We need to hear that plan from Jayden,” Vandal pressed as he eased forward. He then gripped the knife tighter as laughter continued. “You can do as you please once we get the information we need.”
“As I please?” The scythe raised slowly. “Who are you to make that call?” The edge of the blade then curved around to rest at his throat as Cordis stepped around the man. “I’ll tell you the same thing I told Nuallis dear. Those that step out of line will be stepped on. Unless you plan on taking a shot at me, mind your place, gunner, lest you end up like your wife.”
Loosening his hold on the dagger as the blade removed itself, Vandal tightened his grip as he approached the other man to hold his bladed weapon to his neck.
“Let Jayden out.”
Looking over his shoulder to see the resiliency in Vandal’s gaze, Cordis started grinning to showcase sharpened teeth. Turning slowly to face the man as clawed fingers twitched in anticipation, Cordis reached out the snatch the man only to have him slice his fingers off. Turning his attention to the digits on the ground, gold eyes drifted towards the gunner before the blonde chuckled.
“Well, I wasn’t expecting that,” he admitted as he shook his hand, splashing a bit of the dark substance onto the gunner’s face. The amputated stumps then grew new fingers before taking a swipe at the man’s face. “Damn, your face is ruined…”
Licking off the blood as Vandal stepped back to cover half his face, Cordis lashed out again to have his fingers sliced. Retreating another step as the lacerations began to sting, Vandal noted movement behind his attacker before tilting his head back as a tendril came into view. Focusing on Cordis when he lashed out again, Vandal was startled when the thing didn’t go for him.
Both men stared at the severed arm laying between them as it started to flake away like ash before several other tentacles shot forward. Talon opened a portal beneath Vandal’s feet to bring him back before he was encased along with the hostile man.
“Are you crazy?” Talon asked.
“I just wanted to hear the plan,” he replied as Ignatius hurried over to look at his injury. “We need something for Nuallis.”
“I admire your tenacity but that was foolish, Vandal,” Moryuu stated as he stared at the dark construct. “You’re no good to her dead.”
Moryuu’s attention then went towards Ravage to see her circling the thing with a hand outstretched. She hummed her curiosity before a tentacle shot out from below to grab her. A second then lashed out before they both stabbed through the old wood as the girl retreated to Moryuu’s side.
“It’s done something that at the warehouse,” Vandal informed as he watched the things pull themselves out while a third began etching something into the flooring. “However, it has not done that before.”
Once it had finished, all three retreated back into the structure. Everyone stayed on the other side of the stage before Ravage poked her head from behind Moryuu.
“What was that about?” she questioned before looking up at her contracted playmate. “Are you sure I can’t play with Domino?”
“You know our arrangement,” he replied as he cautiously made his way towards the thing. He tapped at the structure, vaguely getting the same vibes as when he was dealing with Gideon. He then tapped a tonfa against it before looking down at the drawings on the stage. “Hey, come look at this.”
Ravage skipped over to her playmate. Vandal stepped forward with Ignatius right behind him, beckoning for him to let him finish healing his eye. Talon finally came forth to examine the scrawling before touching the grooves in the wood.
"Is this --?"
Faint cracking drew attention towards the structure. Moryuu raised his tonfas; Vandal gripped his dagger tighter. Ignatius utilized Magpie’s knife while Talon stood by for if they needed an immediate exit. However, creaking stopped before the barrier split down the center. The surrounding pieces then flaked and chipped away before Ignatius lowered his weapon.
“Jayden?”
"Jayden?"
I looked up slowly to see the caster tucking the knife away before he took a knee in front of me. He held up his hands slowly to show that he wasn’t a threat while his attention seemed to be trained on something behind me. Ignatius then looked towards the others to signal them to lower their weapon.
“Ignatius, get back here,” Talon pressed.
He shook his head. “It’s alright.”
Moryuu raised his tonfas. “Ignatius, back up.”
He shook his head away. “Lower your weapons.”
Vandal looked at him before lowering the dagger.
Moryuu looked to Vandal before sighing heavily as he focused on Ignatius. “I hope you know what you’re doing,” he muttered as he lowered the tonfas.
“Jayden.” I tensed before Ignatius held his hands a bit higher as he kept staring past me. “Hey, can we talk to you? We want to talk about that plan you had. Is that alright?”
I looked over my shoulder to see several tentacles looming before they retreated. “The plan...”
“Yes,” he pressed, “you had a plan, right?” I went to point at the etching before seeing black liquid leaking from the stump where I once had an arm. “Your arm–!”
Everything hurts...
“Yeah, I chopped it off,” I muttered as one of the tendrils helped me to my feet. I glanced at Vandal before looking at the stump again. “It was the only thing I could think of to get him to stop. That and something else…”
I then made my way over to the engravings before noticing the small girl standing by Moryuu. She gave a sharp-toothed smile while walking over. Ravage then eyed the stage and gave a thoughtful hum.
“It looks like a child drew this.”
I stared at her then her caretaker before pointing down at the floor. “It’s crude, yes, but its just a simple plan that can be acted upon in two ways.”
“Two?”
I nodded stiffly as I held my injured arm. “Yes, but it requires actions on two fronts with everyone's help. Do you think you can handle that?”
Ravage nodded excitedly as she clapped her hands together before pausing as the dark substance started to take shape. Her eyes then widened as a new arm appeared in place of the old — fingers and all.
“Jayden—”
My attention went back to the others before I took a knee as the world spun. “Give me a moment and I’ll tell you the details.”
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