Josh
I'm looking around for Nari or anyone I can find. It's like the whole place is deserted... I even checked for the hostess of this house. I couldn't see Shelby anywhere. I'm starting to suspect that something fishy is going on here, but the question is what? We were all together and then seven, eight if you include Declan became seven, hen six, five, four, three till we became two and now, only one us remains. Me.
Could someone here be doing something to us? I'm the only one, remaining.
I have Solayo's artifact and everyone's missing. Maybe I can make a run for it to where Carter came from? I could always send the police later? I walk to the window of the mansion to look out. Not much is happening and I take a chair and plant myself onto it to continue staring out the window, pondering what I should do. Then I hear floor boards creaking. I spin around, ready to defend myself from whatever or whoever has been picking us off one by one.
"Meow!"
Oh! It's just Shelby's Cat, Declan. "Come here, Declan." I say and he lets me pet him. "Do you know where everyone is boy?" I ask him. He looks sad. Do cat's get sad? He paws at me, but I'm so deep in thought, I don't realize so he bites my ankle instead and runs off, but stops short before going into another room. "Do you want me to follow you, boy? I ask him.
"Meow!"
So, I follow him and end up into a room that is half library and lounge-room I've never been in before. The fireplace is on, but turned down to have gentle flames, flickering. The lights are turned down as well in the room so it has a gentle glow. I feel relaxed and take a seat on the couch. Declan lies just under the table in the centre of the room somewhat near my feet.
"Josh." I hear a voice ring out and I look up to see who spoke. "Shelby?! Oh, thank God! I found you!" I cry. "Yeah? Why's that?" She responds.
"Everyone went missing slowly one by one. I was worried that I was the only one left, but I'm not alone now because I still have you! Yay!" I run up and hug her. We're almost the same height, but she's slightly taller. She shifts uncomfortably and I let go. "Heh, sorry." I apologize.
"It's... Okay, friend. Were friend's, yeah, Josh?"
"Yes! Why wouldn't we be?"
"Good, good. So, what do you say about the concept that we leave? Get some help." She suggests. "I'm starting to feel creeped out..."
"That sounds like a excellent plan! One I fully endorse!"
"I'm so glad you see it my way. Just we have one problem."
"What is that?" I ask her.
"Do we even know how to get to wherever Carter's from? I've never travelled around much." She leans forward towards me. "Oh, that is a problem." I respond and then she looks incredible pale and is blinking slightly like she's trying to clear a fog.
"Are you okay?" I ask.
"Uh, yeah, yeah. Still just not feeling well, you know." She says, but it sounds forced.
"Are you sure?" I ask, wanting to double check. "Why, you don't believe my words?" She responds. I gulp, feeling like she's glaring at me.
"So, uh. Before we leave... You haven't seen any of our friends, have you?" I ask.
"No, not at all-" But she sounds like she's trailing off. "Nope, not a thing since, Carter 'put us down.' What have I been doing?"
Her voice sounds like it's meaning has changed again. "You're acting weird, saying weird thing's..." I murmur, feeling anxiety kick up.
"Oh, I am? You know how it is. Just tiredness and whatever, we all get like that. I'm sorry, Josh-"
"Yeah, I hear ya, Shelby. We're all pretty tired and everything to tell you the truth since we ended up here. Walking around was the last thing we wanted so I'm incredible gracious, we're incredibly gracious you let us stay and two, things were getting weird outside... You didn't see what we saw. The lunar eclipse outside must have been shifting the world's balance or something.
To tell you the truth, I was convinced I was going crazy at one point. Had all these anxious thoughts racing or almost a deejay-vu feeling actually. Sorry, I'm going off on a tangent, I get like that sometimes-
"Not at all." She says, holding up her hand. "I understand, you don't need to apologize. And you know what they say, Josh?"
"No, what?"
"Full moons do make people crazy sometimes..."
My mouth drops open.
"Hehe, I'm joking buddy. Don't worry!"
"Oh, thank the Core, ha! You had me worried!" I backtrack.
She walks up to me and places her hands on either side of me, sitting on the couch. "Shelby... What are you doing?" I ask her. She gives me a gentle smile, but it's kinda unnerving in a way. "What are you doing?" I stammer.
"I... I like you." She says and turns her head away blushing. "Oh, really?" I respond. She nods. "Sorry. Just your personality is so..."
"Not heavy? I try not to carry emotional baggage. Can't say the same about Dan, Libby, Brax, Nari even and Carter actually from what I've seen. I don't mean to talk bad about them. They just hold onto that type of stuff, you know."
"Yeah, that. I'm scared, Josh."
I place my hand on her right shoulder. "It's okay, you have me. You're not alone and I may not be... Uh, how I put this... Anything more than book smarts, but-"
I don't get a chance to finish my sentence as she cuts me off by sliding onto my lap and resting her head against my chest. Err, this is what Nari does sometimes... Wait...
"Josh?" I hear Shelby says. I see her pull up the hem off her shirt and coat a bit. She looks me in the eyes and I can see her green eyes. They sparkle like emeralds. I feel her take one of my hands and it ends up resting on her waist just under her shirt.
"We could go anywhere when we like after we call for help, you know? You're not troublesome by any means from what I've seen."
"I'm flattered, but I feel confused, Shelby."
"Let's just go, yeah? We don't need to stay here, heck, why bother sending the police. It actually looks as if everyone might have just... Abandoned us. They don't care about you, but I do." She says, licking her lips. She pulls me to my feet and I take a close look at her. Wow, she's fit and toned, but a little on the thin side though.
"Come on, Josh" She coo's, trailing her fingers up by arm." You coming, Declan?" She add's on, glancing down to Declan who's cowering beneath the table. I nod and follow her into the main hall. Declan is following us, loyally. "So, were do you want to go? We can go anywhere together." She says with her fingers climbing up my collar bone. "Uh, the beach?" I respond which is the first thought that comes to my head.
"Sounds delightful!" She says with a smirk. I feel her lead me over the door and she's about to open it. I try to speak, but no words form. She let's out a slight giggle. Declan is still following u and I feel her hand, cup my cheek. "You're going to love being next to her. You both can spend eternity together. What's better than one puppet is two puppets! I've waited forever for this chance to finally leave this cursed world. Soon I'll be strong enough to live again, I just need a few more bodies and then I can create myself a 2nd body. I'm not worried, I've repeated hell at-least 1000 times, so what's a few more cycles? 5? 20? 45? 60? I don't mind, I'm happy to wait forever as it will come one day.
You know, this is the furthest I've ever been before. Usually it ends with me killing everyone, but this time? One has remained alive as you've failed to get on my temper."
"What?" I ask her. I look up to see a shadowy figure with a white face with soul-less black eyes staring at me, but it's like a image sitting on top of Shelby's appearance and it's skin is black.
"Josh, he's a demon! RUN!" She shouts from underneath. "Wait... I'm confused!" I cry and I'm about to sprint outside.
"No, I am NOT losing this chance to be one step closer!" The voice that comes from Shelby sounds demonic and male, but she's female?
"I need it to leave this wretched hell, those idiots I was friends with, did to me! I'm sick of repeating purgatory!"
"What is going on?" I cry, confused.
"Josh, he's dead I think! Or at the very least, somewhere between limbo! By killing others, he can take a small bit of life force, but it's not enough! He needs a few of us, intact! He stole control of my body from me years ago, he deceived me into coming here! What my friends and family did to me was an illusion! He's using me as a host and before now, I was the only soul he had under his control, at his mercy-
"Shut up, shut up, Shelby!" The shadow over the top of her, growls. I step away. "What do you want me to do?" I ask.
"Run away as far as you can and never come back-
"I said, shut up, Shelby! Well, no matter, I'll just end you then, Josh and receive a small bit of life in return. I'd rather that, than let you slip from my clutches!" I watch the shadow leaps from Shelby's body to stand on it's own. It's ghostly white face before is now morphing and I don't want to stick around to find out what's going on. I watch, Declan run up and slip under the shadow as it's walking towards me. "Declan, you're safe! Thank the Core!" I hear Shelby cry out while crawling over to me and picking him up, but not before planting a soft kiss upon he's head.
"Uh, Shelby? A little help here!" I cry out. "Uh, right!" And I see her pull out her shovel.
"Take my shovel!" And she throws it to me.
"I'm no hero. I've never wielded a weapon before, I can't even do magic! I'm the weakest of Solayo's class!"
"Well, now is your chance! Prove yourself to yourself! I don't want to go through this again, maybe if we don't repeat our mistakes, the cycle will end! I feel sick, weak. Sick and weak like Nari so you have do this! Maybe you're meant to be the hero! Something, we've all failed at before!"
"Nari, where is she?!"
"Barely hanging on, but that doesn't matter! If you don't stop HIM now, we'll be back to square one!" She screams at the top of her voice all of a sudden. I see the shadow has advanced very close now and I try to slash at with the shovel, but it disintegrates into floating, back particles within seconds and I see an artifact, identical to Solayo's in the figure's hands. "You think you can beat me at my own game? And, for the record, Josh. Don't bother using yours, it's useless.
And, you're un-trained in using it to so I have even less reason to fear a weakling like you." And he presses on the ball and I hear a sound like something heavy, falling to the floor. I look to my right, to see Shelby has passed out on her back and her breathing's shallow. Declan is half on her chest, meowing and pawing at her, trying to wake her up. He licks her face.
"What did you do to her?!" I scream, but he doesn't answer my question. "Surrender now, I'm done with Kiki's stupid game. Fuck the Core! They will ALWAYS set us up for failure! They don't offer us enough support! Making us forget, NEVER erases the pain we actually go through! It's subconscious, it's always there and not easily accessible, but it DOESN'T MEAN we never suffered!"
"I will never surrender." I respond, gritting my teeth and confused what he's ranting about. I raise Solayo's artifact, pressing on it similarly to him, hoping it will do something as to pull out my tree-branch would be useless. I'm astounded to see it glow a warm gold and this interface of light appears and, in the corner, is the name... Declan?!
"A battle it is then, you pathetic mortal! You're far from even an Angel is Training's status. You're nothing." He raises a sword above his head that I see come from nowhere.
"I'm not just nothing!" I shout at him and then press down harder on the artifact and a sword extends in my hand, glowing a warm gold also. I tuck and roll, avoiding his first hit. The sword is pretty heavy and I realize he's coming for me when I hear a voice in my head. "Distract him!"
It's male and a voice I haven't heard before when I see I still have the mask I picked up days ago that Shelby pegged it at us, the first time she made her presence known. I manage to hold onto with my left hand and carefully aim the mask with my right hand and he panics, dropping his sword as I don't think this was a move he was anticipating.
"Damn you! Damn you ALL for getting in my way!" He shouts at me and then he let's out a howl of pain. I look down to see Declan has left his owner and is biting the figure's leg, trying to tear a chunk out, but he let's go, coughing and I'm horrified to see the figure brutally kick Declan in the ribs. He falls over and is bleeding immediately. He's eyes are clouding over and he's not moving.
"You don't know when to quit, do you?!" The figure growls as I see his skin start to literally melt off, revealing some fragments of bone. I let out an almighty scream for just a second and manage to shut up, containing my fear.
I'm the only one who can stop him now... Every one of my friends believe in me, everyone I've met and I raise the sword, managing to find the strength to hold it into both my hands and slash down on his arm. It falls off with ease.
"Blast you, mortal! It was a good attempt, but not good enough. You won't defeat me, you're so naive for thinking you're worth anything, can do anything!" He yells, charging at me.
"Oh, unicorn-poop!" I scream, seeing he looks really mad and starts to float up into the air.
"The Countdown hasn't got much time left, mortal! And also, you can't kill someone who is already dead, HA, HA, HA!" He laughs maniacally as I see cracks form up his melting skin, entwined with bone. It's like he's smouldering like he's on fire or fire that's slowly fizzling out.
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