WHAT LURKS IN THE DARKNESS (2)

 A hand reached out from the darkness, and grabbed me by the head. Then the world shifted to darkness…

 The whispering suddenly became coherent, and it turned into screams of wrath and hatred!

???- “Kill her!”

???- “She doesn’t deserve to live!”

???- “Death to the incompetent!”

 Their voices rang within my head, disorienting and frightening me. What was going on?

 It lasted for an innumerable amount of time, but gradually, the darkness faded away, dispelled by the light of the golden sun. Gradually color returned to my vision, and the bridge became gold once more. But the dark fragments remained within the air, as if waiting for a chance to reform.

 The golden lights still didn’t want to come out. But I could feel them strongly urging me to continue walking up the bridge. Before it was too late.

 The black sun was looming down below, spreading its suffocating black light across the entire space. It was getting closer.

***************

 As I was walking away from Sparrow, my face was expressionless, but the gears of my mind were rapidly churning. This bodyguard had a really loose mouth, and even without Blackmist’s prompting, I would still consider getting rid of her. Of course, it couldn’t be personally. But isn’t the golden aura perfect for situations like this?

 I continued to let the golden aura flow freely underneath my clothing and voiced my desire,

 ‘Keep Sparrow’s mouth shut about this issue.’

  Suddenly, a sizable portion of the golden aura started fluctuating violently! Wait. That shouldn’t be happening!

 Pulling at the neck area of my shirt, I looked down to see a shocking sight. Black specks were boiling up through the golden aura, and when they surfaced, they rapidly dispersed. Shit.

 I focused on suppressing the Blackmist, keeping it under control. It was difficult, but I was able start pressuring the black shards with my aura, forcing them back into my body.

 But while I was doing this, Chloe showed up in front of me. I didn’t acknowledge her presence.

Chloe- “What’s wrong? Why are you standing in the middle of the rotunda like this?”

 God damn it! Out of all times, why now!? I have to concentrate!

 The black specks, which I had almost gotten under full control, slipped under that momentary loss of concentration. They were once again on the verge of coming out, and they would most assuredly attempt to ‘silence’ Sparrow in the easiest way possible. Most likely with her accidental death.

 And at this point, Chloe began to hammer in the final nails of Sparrow’s coffin.

Chloe- “Nathaniel, it feels like you are trying to avoid me. Is it because I practiced without your permission?”

 After a second or two passed of waiting for me to try to respond to that loaded question, she started deeply scowling. Her tone became accusatory,

Chloe- “Are you ignoring me? At least act like you care!”

 She pushed up my chin, and we locked eyes. But at that moment, the Blackmist exploded out! The temperature surrounding me immediately dropped by several degrees, and my eyes flashed with a dark, cold glint.

 Chloe backed off immediately, and looked at me, bewildered. I didn’t know what sort of thoughts were going through her head, but suddenly, I felt a sense of regret. Not at hurting her, but at the fact that I was letting Nathaniel down.

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 Yet Chloe seemed to take this regret the wrong way. I felt a warm touch on my hand that slowly transformed into a tight grip. She wanted to hold hands?

 I had two options at this point. Either I could pull my hand away, or I could let her have my way with me and by extension, Nathaniel.

 Emotionally, I was leaning towards the first option. You may call me a heartless b*st*rd, but I just didn’t have any sort of trust towards this girl. She blew up on me, and at such a critical time too! Sure she could of seen me from the cafeteria, but why would she walk up and start asking questions?

 Was it concern? Maybe, but it was more likely that she was motivated by some sort of selfish ego, just like the rest of them. Revenge is best served cold…

 Of course, by letting go of her hand I would be badly damaging her relationship with Nathaniel, and thereby his relationship with me. And trust, once lost, is hard to regain.

 While I was making my decision, my eyes momentarily swept across those cherry red lips of hers. I could still remember his excitement, his happiness, and his conviction from that day. I couldn’t take that away from him.

 I returned her grip in full, and she smiled brightly at me. And at this, I could only sigh. If I were Nathaniel, I would be totally captured by that smile, without being able to clearly recognize the manipulative intent behind it. She was clearly planning to use this smile to disarm me, and then she would attempt to drag out why I was acting strangely while my guard was down.

 I smiled back at her, using my years of residence within our subconscious to force my eyes to ‘smile’ as well. A fake smile, but it was one that couldn’t be differentiated from a real one.

 With this, Chloe walked back to our lunch table, and on it was a half eaten sandwich. I took out my lunch as well, but as predicted, Chloe initiated a conversation. I waited, prepared to distinguish her manipulation and counteract it.

Chloe- “Hey, I just want to apologize for blowing up on you like that. Its just, I was waiting for you at the table for a while. And…”

 I shifted into second gear. The world slowed down by a couple orders of magnitude, and I could see the different sorts of emotions displayed on her face. Worry. Irritation. Her tone slightly fluctuated at the end when she said ‘a while.’ It seemed she was prompting me to explain. What would Jesus Nathaniel do?

 He would tell her the truth, but I couldn’t explain anything without making myself seem more suspicious. So I just gave an apology.

Me- “Sorry for making you worry…”

 After waiting for a few seconds in silence, I think she realized that she was unable to get anything else out of me. But before she could attempt to force me into a corner, I changed the subject.

Me- “Are you enjoying your lunch?”

Chloe- “Yeah...”

 She didn’t seem interested in the food, as she gave a half-hearted reply. She was probably still focused on what happened earlier. But I could change that.

 I looked solemnly at her food, and said with my best poker face,

Me- “You know, my grandma always said that if you don’t finish your food, you won’t ever grow to be big and strong.”

 Chloe stayed silent. I ate a big bite of my meal, and barely swallowed it down before continuing,

Me- “But why is it that whenever I take a big mouthful, I feel so fat!?”

 She burst into a somewhat strange laughter, something I am unable to definitively describe. Then between her gasps of breath, she said humorously,

Chloe- “Why is this so funny!? Your joke is so bad!”

 She continued laughing in the same manner, but why was it sounding more and more like the snorting of pigs?

 I angrily kept my silence, and waited for the laughter to die down while I was eating my food. A pointless activity, given that the body strengthening restores my energy infinitely, but it allowed me to keep up appearances with Chloe. She needed to be appeased before Nathaniel came back.

Chloe- “I get it now. You were probably just doing something with your ability, and you have to keep it confidential. I was just being stupid… Sorry.”

 I was pleasantly surprised. She was actually helping to make excuses for me! Was it naivety? Optimism? Or was she trying to defuse the situation to manipulate me further? Either way, it was just what I needed to bring this under control.

Me- “You aren’t stupid. Its my fault…”

 Chloe smiled happily, and using my ability I could tell that it wasn’t a fake one either. And then she subconsciously sat closer to me, to the point where I could almost feel the heat radiating off her body. She started talking about anime, books, and other such things that Nathaniel used to be into. It was a pleasant discussion, and I got to know a little more about Chloe as a person. I still don’t trust her though…

***************

 I had been running up the golden bridge for a while now. Once another episode with the darkness happened, I didn’t dare to stop moving. The balls of light didn’t dare to come out either, but their pitiful trembling within my chest had stopped. And it was for a good reason too.

 I was almost at the golden sun. Right now, it had already covered the entire sky, such that it now just looked like a golden celling in front of me. All I had to do was to ascend a little further, and I’d be safe within the pure confines of that golden, holy light. But the figure within the dark sun wasn’t willing to let me go so easily. He was going to do something; I could feel it. And it would be soon.

 Suddenly, the black flakes started to move as if they were leaves caught in a swirling tempest. They twirled, danced, and spun upwards. I looked on curiously, realizing that their target wasn’t me. It was the golden sun.

 The flakes started to gather together, eventually resembling dark pillars of shadow. They shot upwards from the black sun into the golden celling!

“Bang!”

 The space I was in started to tremble greatly as the black pillars smashed into the golden sun, making me unable to keep my balance. I fell flat on my face, thankfully on the long side of the bridge.

 What was going on!? I raised my head in horror, watching the black pillars slowly penetrate the golden aura. Once they fully entered, they acted as points of…injection?

 Bulges of darkness were traveling up these pillars, and they went up through the golden celling into a place I couldn’t see. What was it doing?

 In response to this, the Golden Celling started to fluctuate violently, and it actually forced back some of the black pillars, making their pitch black tips a sort of grey. Yet, its defenses weakened for a short moment, and this proved fatal for the golden sun.

 A central, huge pillar pierced upwards from the very core of the dark abyss. At its tip I could see the black figure that tormented me so long during my travel to the golden world! For an instant, his red eyes seemed to shine darkly as he passed by me, and then in the next moment he had already slammed into the golden celling, shattering it into oblivion!

“BOOM!!!”

 The space began to shake once again like a hippie on drugs, and I desperately held onto the surface of the golden bridge!

 Once the shaking passed, I hesitantly got to my feet. Obviously, there was some sort of danger within the golden sun now, and would traveling to it really keep me safe?

 I glanced over at the central dark pillar that had passed by me when it shot towards the golden celling. It had barely missed. Would I be so lucky next time?

 I looked back up at the golden celling, and no longer found its light able to make me feel comforted. But at this point in time, I could either keep going on the light road, or I could tread the more powerful, dark road.

 As I considered the option, the golden road that existed in front of me started to become more illusory, and the black road seemed to start drawing in all of the color in the surrounding space. Shit.

 I refocused on the golden road within my mind, and it re-materialized into its previous majesty and grandeur. Seeing this, I started to run along the road once again. Just a little bit more, and I’d be at the top. Once there, I could probably leave whenever I wanted…

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