- NUALLIS -489Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuzownusgHs
She nodded shyly, seeing no vileness in healing. However, the talk of hurting or even killing Ladnavia made her uneasy; it disturbed her even more that Cordis mentioned it so lightly. Then again, this was Cordis, the dark-hearted twin of Jayden. Friend and fiend, thought Nu, fiend and friend.
When she tried to walk, she faltered, falling to a knee. Her head pounded, the aftereffects of conjuring of the acid storm still weighing heavy on her mind and body. Would I have killed Cae? wondered Nu.
"Must I carry you?" Cordis said like a parent to a child they had grown tired of, "I already know your response, but you know ... "
"No," she said as she stood up slowly, "thank you."
"Humble as ever," Cordis said after a sigh.
They walked through the gate of the playing field, looking for a way out of the coliseum. It was dark within, even darker when the rain clouds came in to pour over the town. As they made their way down the corridors the Umbras, the smaller, snarling variety, followed behind the duo.
Nu's skin crawled and she wanted to run but remembered whose company she kept.
"You will have to get used to them being around, my dear," said Cordis raising a languid hand to them, "not a pretty bunch, but they won't dare harm you without my permission."
"So if you are friends with the Umbras, then what about the other monsters?"
"Those? No idea. Definitely not Umbras. Other interdimensional creatures that entered this world similar to how we did, perhaps."
Nu remembered the great bizarre bird Ladnavia seemed to call from outside.
"Many ways in," Nu thought out loud, "but only a few ways out?"
"Even if there was only one," Cordis seemed to growl more to himself than as a response to Nu, "it would be mine."
"Cordis," Nu began, "do you ... do you have someone you want to return to? Someone you would kill for love?"
"Of course, my sweet," answered Cordis, beaming venomously, "love is a powerful thing, is it not?"
They came upon a pair of double doors, their u-shaped handles married with loops of heavy chains with a few padlocks hanging from the tangle.489Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbtfM5XSGfQ
"Lock—" Before Nu could finish, the blonde slashed through steel links like they were bread dough. He kicked the door open with enough force to make it bounce a little off the back wall.
The rains fell harder. Nu could see the sheets of it furl with the wind. On the floor, she found an old, clear plastic bottle, clouded by age and element. She stepped out, welcoming the rain on her skin, though it was cold. Only a slight amount of focus was needed to guide the drops into the bottle; it was full within seconds.
In the distance, Nu could see the fancy high rise they fought in not too long ago, standing tall against the coliseum.
"Where to, Cordis?" asked Nu.
- CAECIUS -
"NEITH!" Caecius ran to her, but the ground shifted and attempted to pull him in. "damn it, let go! Get off me!"
"Caecius," Neith said weakly, half her body scorched by fiery strike, "run, save yourself, I love—"
The fire elementalist lashed at her with a flaming serpent. Neith screamed as the infernal whip wrapped around her thin waist. Her attacker reeled her in, and Caecius crawled through the stones and dirt, cutting them with the sharp zephyrs he conjured around his fists.
"Damn you," shrieked Caecius, "I'll kill you, I'll kill you all!"
He let loose a battle cry, one that made dozens of invisible blades erupt from his whole body, immediately blowing off the earthen fragments, making a small crater around him. He sprinted, focusing his powers on his lover's tormentor. The flames of the whip softened to embers, yet the wielder only giggled, unafraid of his wrath. Something about it only made him angrier.
"Whoa, whoa there," taunted a marauder, a huge man who let eight stones swirl around him. He sent one to smash against Caecius's cheek, knocking off the mask that covered his birthmark: a black, jagged swirl that graced the left side of his face, from cheekbone to jawline. "Easy now."
"Ugly fellow, that one," said the whip-bearer, her long red hair flowing in the wind. Caecius's focus broken, her whip blazed once more, its renewed vigor, making Neith grit her teeth in pain. The whip split, another coil wrapping around Neith's neck. "Well, do it, Titan, what are you waiting for? Bury the bastard."489Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC0Fz06p1tR
"Please ... " begged Caecius as he got on his knees, sacrificing his pride for the one he loved, "I'll do anything, just let her go ... please."
It was pointless. The earth elementalist only looked at the pathetic aeromancer and smiled enigmatically.
"Brigid, my love," the big man, Titan, said softly to the redhead, "kill the girl."
The world went black.
"NOOOOOOO!" Caecius howled.
He awoke, not within the penthouse, but in a coffee shop, though suspecting he was in the same miserable town. A dream, thought Caecius, a damn nightmare.
"This tie," said a man, the sudden voice making him jump and draw a knife, "I hate it. Ugly pattern."
Caecius made a face at him. Gideon's eyes shifted for a moment and went back to fixing his appearance.
"What happened?" asked Caecius as he slid his knife back into its sheath.
"It appears the world has, how do you say, shifted." Gideon pulled at his jacket. "Bah, doesn't fit right."
"What is Cordis playing at?"
"Who said it was Cordis's doing?"
"Who else?"
"Perhaps there are more players than you are aware of."
The aeromancer regarded the Umbra suspiciously.
"And are you, Gideon, a player as well?"
Gideon did not deign to answer, turning his head and checking his reflection in the glass of a cabinet door. His reflected eyes met Caecius's. The Umbra smiled thinly.
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