--=-Chapter 26: This Isn't The Same Emptiness--=-

Another jackass after my shadow. Unfortunately for them, I didn't know anything about the shadow—except that I needed it to regain my memories.

Still, while we were talking, they were dropping insights into the apocalypse. If they were right, at least some of the creatures running the apocalypse were born from human traumas.

I wanted to see what other information I could get out of Crowseph, but, however open-minded I was about the surreal events of the apocalypse, this creature still had me on edge. Crowseph wasn't physically imposing, but it wasn't every day you saw a crow manifest from a face like it was a portal to the land of birds.

I tried not to eye the silver buttons lying on the floor between us. They were an untested defense against a mysterious butler who identified as a flock of crows in a tailed suit.

Given my size and thick blue fur, I doubted that the crows could kill me, but they clearly had more going on beneath the surface than I knew.

Dying itself wasn't so bad—even before time began to loop, it hadn't been a significant fear of mine. It was the slow trudge through pain and terror that accompanied death that I was most eager to avoid. It seemed to me dying was like shitting; quicker is usually better, even if too quick can be loud and jarring.

Crowseph had walked in here unarmed and alone, or at least singular. That alone was enough to have my hackles up. By contrast, Hands had drugged me, pointed guns at me, and trapped me with magic and threats before killing me out of caution. Crowseph had come to me, and only a few strides separated us. Still, he didn't seem especially concerned that I might run or even attack.

Even in my original human body, they wouldn't have been that intimidating. They didn't look strong, being thin and past middle age. If anything, they looked like a harsh school teacher—someone who might lecture me on the importance of proper punctuation. They looked stern but not physically imposing. On the other hand, I was at least 7 feet tall, hulking, and monstrous.

Which was sort of the point. To anyone with eyes, Crowseph was trapped in a smallish room with me, not the other way around. Even if they could release a torrent of crows from their face, there was only so much space to fly around. It shouldn't be enough to do more than inconvenience me. However, Crowseph was still here, telling me how he would torture and subjugate Alice and Jessica. I had to wonder what other magic the crow-wizard had at his disposal.

What exactly are you trying to accomplish with your 'educating?' You're right that I'm missing memories. So far, all you've taught me is that you're a threat I have to deal with. About halfway through my thought, I realized the crow on my shoulder wasn't speaking.

I glanced over at the bird; it was utterly unmoving. For a second, I thought it was dead, a belief that was reinforced a second later when its aura drained away.

"I did it!" the crow said, sounding self-impressed.

Distracted by whatever was happening with my shoulder crow, I barely managed to see the attack coming. I saw a dark blur of motion from the corner of my eye and threw myself forward at Sori's buttons.

I didn't see Crowseph hit me, but I felt myself come to a jarring halt in midair as my direction suddenly reversed. One of my clawed fingers snagged the chain, and I clenched my fist, clinging hard to the supposed shield charms. My body crashed into a cabinet, my breath forced from my lungs as the countertop slammed into the middle of my back. I fell limply to the floor, dazed.

The next second, the monster was standing over me. It was humanoid and at least 9 feet. It was a glossy black, covered in feathers that ranged in size from the size of a fingernail to the size of a toddler. Its arms and upper body were stacked with enough muscle that it could probably rip my arm from my body. I hadn't seen the change, but it could only be Crowseph as there was no other sign of the gentleman butler.

Crowseph was rearing back to stomp me with a clenched taloned foot—like some kind of demon kingfisher with bulging thews.

I glanced at my hand with the chain, and my heart fell. I'd missed it. I wasn't holding the chain after all; it had been a phantom sensation.

I threw my arms up to block but managed to deflect the strike instead. I knocked their leg up and over my shoulder, past my head.

Crowseph stumbled, trying to regain their balance, and I took the opportunity to roll clear. I felt a massive hand close on my fur, but their grip was poor, and I only lost a small clump in my escape.

Once again, I dove for the medallions. A crow was also flying for them; it could be the one that had been sitting on my shoulder. I wasn't sure when it had gotten off the ride, probably during that first hit, but it was going to beat me to the necklace.

What the hell just happened? It made sense now that Crowseph wasn't worried about being trapped in a room with me. With or without the buttons, it was time to leave.

I ran for the door. Crowseph would be on me in a moment, I was sure. I looked over my shoulder to check.

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Look, just don't do that. Running requires looking forward.

I tripped.

My head hit the floor with a thunk, only partly dampened by my fur. Blinking, I scooted backward, putting my back to the door while trying to steel myself for an impact.

It didn't come.

A crow was flying right at me with the necklace in its talons. Crowseph had grown even larger while I'd tried to run and was now almost twice my size, his head scraping the ceiling. It was terrifying enough that I immediately dismissed the lone crow swooping at me.

One of my pawed hands pulled at the door handle. In a panic, I tried to pull myself to my feet to run—then, the crow dropped the shield necklace in my lap. I was so startled that I let the bird land back on my shoulder. I probably would have dropped the buttons, but they literally fell in my hand.

The door was locked. That or it opened inward, and my weight held it closed.

Crowseph was putting his head down, about ready to start another too-fast charge.

Squeezing my eyes shut, I clenched my fist around one of the buttons, feeling a click as the button triggered.

The force field spawned up around me, already fully extended. It was a good thing I hadn't managed to hit the button when right next to Crowseph, I would have been trapped inside with him. The force field was a yellowish color and two or three inches thick. I couldn't tell if it was double-layered or actually that thick. Either way, I hoped it would be enough to stop a rampaging monster.

Crowseph's hulking feathered form slammed into the shield like a truck, and I heard a terrible crunching sound that could only be its bones breaking.

It bounced away and rolled across the floor. When it got up, it was rotating its arm around its shoulder. The joint was more than broken. Deformed as it was, something was clearly crushed. But, as I watched, it began to reform as though inflating.

"Oh great. It heals." The bird said, speaking my thoughts in a familiar voice.

There was still madness in the crow-monsters eyes, and it barely scanned the room before it grabbed the heavy motorized hospital bed by one end. It twisted as it pulled, and the massive bed lifted from the ground, swinging at my shield.

I scrabbled to my feet, unsure how much abuse the shields could take. Escape was still my priority, but the shield blocked me from reaching the door handle, so all I could do was brace and hope the several-hundred-pound bed didn't break through.

The impact that followed was loud, my eyes blinking uncontrollably through the cacophony, but the shield held.

The crow that had helped me was still on my shoulder. Thank you. I thought at it, not knowing why it had chosen to rebel.

"Sure, Sam, no problem." The familiar voice said from the crow.

Wait. Sori? I thought, feeling stunned.

"Interesting," Crowseph said, once again in his butler form. I'd missed the transformation again. In moments they'd gone from human to monster and back.

"Dude, what the fuck” I said through crow-Sori.

"How have you done this? This isn't the power of your shadow." Crowseph said.

"Oh, yeah, well, that crow's mind was wide open, and your hand-eye coordination is trash, so I thought I'd help out. Hey. Do you think maybe I'm a ghost? Like the ghost of a bird that travels around helping weary souls and scheduling apocalypses?" Sori replied. I didn't know if he was talking to me or Crowseph.

"Is it mad?" the butler asked.

Aren't we all? I thought, and Sori-Crow repeated it dutifully. I had questions for the thing on my shoulder, but my heart was still pounding and telling me not to take my eyes off the frail-looking man again.

It maybe shouldn't have been surprising that his shape was mutable and his mass significant. I didn't know how many crows made up his body, but I got the impression from its sheer density that it was hundreds.

"Perhaps we acted in hast," Crowseph said thoughtfully. "This isn't the same emptiness as has been seen elsewhere. This is new. We came here to educate you. Perhaps an exchange of information would be more beneficial."

--=-

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