There are times for careful deliberation. Precise, orchestrated behavior, with a specific goal in mind. This very well was a time for calculated movement, but sometimes our most visceral reactions can reach a similar goal.
Yume’s eyes widen and her heart begins to pound. There is very little thought left in this head of hers. She makes a dart forwards, sprinting over the rotting corpses, straight at Shingetsu.
“Oh? Shouldn’t your friends join you as well?” Shingetsu snickers and motions with his hands toward Hypatia.
Hypatia follows Yume down the path in a hurry, with Junker and Lucien trailing close behind. Yume does not spare a glance at the team behind her, she powers over the slippery terrain and soon meets the edge of the stage, with Shingetsu towering over her.
“Don’t be shy now, Yume! Please, join me.” He says, and motions upwards with his hand.
Yume finds her body going rigid all the sudden. She floats upwards, before finding herself standing atop the stage directly in front of Shingetsu. She goes to press her node in and is met by Shingetsu’s hand.
“Ah….tsk tsk tsk. We don’t want to get ahead of ourselves now, dear.” He says through a snarling smile.
The hand that she was about to use to press her node in goes rigid and moves back to her side. She is being held entirely still through Shingetsu’s telekinetic strength. She can’t even move her eyes away from his gaze.
“Now then, I think we could use some company here.” Says Shingetsu.
The rest of the team has made it to the side of the stage and Shingetsu lifts them upon its surface and sets them down right behind Yume. If she could move a muscle, she would claw this man’s eyes out with her nails. The hatred is foaming out of her mouth. Shingetsu notices her straining behind his hold and grows a curious expression.
“Why do you anger so?” He asks her.
He lets his grip around her throat loosen and allows her to respond.
“Why?! Look around you. I knew these people.” She snaps at him.
“Knew them? That’s rich.” He chuckles. “I doubt there’s a corpse in this room that could have recognized you, let alone speak your name.”
Yume looks down, feeling a tinge of sadness creeping through her. There was more than a bit of truth in the words he spoke. He sees this expression on her and twists the blade further.
“Exactly as I thought. It’s no surprise, after all, given your condition.”
“My…condition? What exactly do you mean by that?” She says with her anger rising.
“You cannot bear a child. What purpose do you serve in my society? All you can offer me is labor."
Even through Shingetsu’s constriction, her hands find themselves clenched into fists.
“It was YOUR society that allowed me to transition. YOU gave me the option. Why did YOU allow me to do such a thing if it’s so useless?” Her eyes grow wet in absolute fury.
“The illusion of empathy is far more effective than a rebellious society. If I had not given you freedom of self-expression, you may have taken your anger out on The Chamber. We at least recognize that this was not your choice but woven into your very soul.”
“You wouldn’t know the first thing about having a soul, Shit-getsu” She says, and then spits at his face.
He scoffs and wipes away her fluids from his cheeks. In his moment of brief distraction, the force binding her loosens its grip ever so slightly. She takes her opportunity and clicks the node into position.
The exhilaration of escaping his control combined with her anger moves her body in rapid speed. She extends out a broad blade from her palm and slices upwards, severing Shingetsu’s right arm. He looks up at her and tries to regain control over her body. It does not work while her node is on. His slimy condescension rapidly transitions to confusion.
She takes this new opportunity and slices his other arm off, sending this limb flying in the air, landing beneath Hypatia. Yume looks back at the team, and realizes they are still being held hostage.
Two limbs is not enough, she turns back to finish what she started. She slices his left leg off and he falls to the ground, laughing hysterically. Blood is gushing out of three open wounds on his body and he is laying there, dying instead of laughter. It infuriates Yume further and she takes off his final appendage.
“Are you satisfied?” He asks her.
Yume shakes her head and stands above him, wavering the blade in front of his eyes, readying the final blow. Just as she’s about to separate his head from his neck, one of the veins from the king’s cocoon latches on to one of his wounds. It lifts him up into the air, and three more veins grab on to him, all taking a separate cut mark.
They detach themselves from the egg, and Shingetsu takes control of them as if they were his own flesh and blood. Yume is completely shocked and falls to her knees in horror, mouth agape at the Lovecraftian beast looming over her. Shingetsu leans down upon her and resumes his haunting laughter.
“You cannot win.” He says and takes a slashing cut at her chest with one of his new limbs, now alit in fire.
She falls back and lays amongst her fallen co-candidates, with a wound smoldering in a subtle flame. As she recovers the air that was forcibly removed from her lungs, she looks back at her comrades. To her dismay, Shingetsu motions at Junker, and begins moving his body like a marionette.
“The king has waited centuries for this moment. What a poetic end to an era; and an even more beautiful beginning to another.” Junker says.
Junker steps over to Yume and sets one of his feet onto her chest, pressing hard on her ribs. She squirms beneath his weight, trying to nudge him off her. She slips out from beneath his boot and stands to face him.
His expression is hauntingly like Shingetsu’s aside from tears streaming from beneath his goggles. If he could speak on his own volition, he would most certainly apologize to her. His own will is far removed from his body.
Junker takes an aggressive step towards Yume, and she instinctively moves backwards. This delicate dance between them continues for several lunges and empty strikes, until they reach the edge of the stage. Yume, unaware of her footing, dodges his next attack and falls backwards, landing on her back beneath the stage.
Junker jumps down on top of her, with each leg on either side of her body. His fists glow a dull red and two short daggers appear from the tip of his middle fingers. The light from the stage above them perfectly shadows his silhouette, so his face and body are in blackness. Droplets of his tears trail off his face and land upon her cheeks.
Amid all the chaos, soft, distinct pattering can be heard from behind Yume’s head. It trails down towards them, coming in from the way the team had entered. An emotional screeching erupts above her head, and something tackles Junker off her. Ten or twenty sharp feet dance over her body and carry Junker a few feet away.
Yume jumps to her feet and can see that Rosie had snuck her way into the room and is now restraining Junker, preventing him from attacking her further. They wrestle each other and roll around over the collection of bodies beneath them.
Yume takes a moment to look up at the stage and can see Shingetsu still holding his grasp upon Junker, with Hypatia and Lucien still frozen in place. She takes the chance to try and get back to the stage but is interrupted by a defeated chirp.
She turns back around to see Junker huffing and panting as he slices the tail segment off Rosie and discards it some thirty feet from where they stand. Rosie’s blood pours out of the now vacant section of her body, and she limps away, before collapsing in pain. Her beacon-like eyes grow faint as her lucidity faulters.
Junker, now covered in Rosie’s black blood, stands up and turns to face Yume yet again. Yume, tearing up behind a roaring wall of anger, hoists herself up on to the stage, disregarding Junker’s pursuit after her.
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Her body glows in sparkling, effervescent blue. The soft whiteness surrounding her brown retinas vanishes and burns into a similar blue hue. Every vein and capillary beneath her skin is alight in pulsating waves of brilliance.
She rushes towards Shingetsu, without a plan or thought aside from complete annihilation. Each step over the bodies beneath her scorches them in a blue flame. Within moments she reaches him and takes ahold of his tentacle legs.
She yells out at him and tightens her grip around the appendages, singing his horrid flesh. Shingetsu howls out in pain and flicks her away, sending her tumbling onto the pile of death beneath the cocoon. She hoists herself up and catches her breath, readying to make another run towards him.
Shingetsu shakes his head at her and holds his right tentacle up pointing to her.
“Your aggression is unbecoming. Need I remind you why you’re really here?!”
He shouts and telekinetically forces her back down, laying atop the bodies. From her position and angle, she is staring straight up to the massive egg above her. Its surface twitches and wriggles, moving various veins and stretching the fibers of its shell to reveal something beneath it.
Manifesting through the disturbing skin, are the faces of Yume’s father, Adam and mother, Yua. They are pressed together, or rather, molded together. Their bodies are more so one thing rather than two. Despite its horrific appearance, they smile at her, and she feels a deep resonance with them.
“Oh, Yume. How wonderful it is to see you again.” Her mother says to her.
“You’ve sure grown up, kiddo.” says her father.
Tears immediately flow from her eyes. All the anger, bitterness, and disgust seem to vanish at their sight. Despite all her efforts and turmoil, reuniting with them was always in the back of her mind.
“Mom…dad?!” she yells at them.
The two of their voices join in a dissonant tone “We’re here dear. Come now, join us.”
Her parents open their arms, and they stretch down towards her, transforming from human arms into slithering, slimy veins. Yume can’t help but stare up at them in delight. It feels as though they are the only things in the room.
From out towards the edge of the stage, she can hear a strained scream.
“Yume! Don’t! You must stop! Remember where you are!” Hypatia shouts.
It is as if the noise passes through Yume’s ears, and she is unable to comprehend the words. She briefly contemplates investigating its source, but ultimately can’t be convinced.
The two veins stemming from her parents morph together into one thin, cord-like appendage. Yume, too mesmerized by her family’s voices and faces, doesn’t recognize the impending doom being lowered upon her.
It attaches to her forehead, and all goes still. She enters an all too familiar emptiness. Panic starts to set in as she realizes she has been duped. She stands up and hears her feet splash against shallow liquid.
“No…no! Why am I so stupid?!” she screams into the void.
Her heart beats out of her chest, and she paces the floor. The level of the liquid rises to cover her shoulders and then engulfs her head. In desperation she tries to swim to the top but no matter how far she pushes herself, the liquid does not have a surface she can reach.
She feels herself sinking slowly and chokes on the fluid entering her lungs. No amount of effort can get her out of this. In most of her experiences within a dark pool, she has felt a deep sense of peace and tranquility. Those feelings are not here with her today. Her anxiety and dread make her hang on to what little lucidity she has left, even if just for a moment.
A small orb of red light appears before her. It harbors a noise she is quite reluctant to interact with, so she is actively swimming away from it. It seems that no matter the direction she faces, the red orb only grows closer to her. It surrounds her and forces her submission.
All her anxiety, anger, bitterness, and hope are wiped away in an instant. She can feel herself laid upon a surface that is recognizable to her. As her eyes open, it’s quite clear where she is now, within the walls of her old dormitory.
The motives, goals, and dreams of her life in the pit fade and wither away. All her emotions from the journey she went on disintegrate. Her memories and even the people she met make haste exiting her mind.
The nurse appears from her bedside wall and wishes her a good morning.
“The time is now 5:50 AM, would you like to snooze?” It asks her.
“No thanks, I’m awake.” She responds in a groggy voice.
What a wild dream, she thinks to herself while sliding a couple pieces of bread into her toaster. When the pieces pop back out, she grabs them and slides a knife slathered with raspberry jam over their surfaces. She takes a bite of a piece and then sets the knife down upon her nightstand.
For a moment, she stares at it, feeling a strong sense of déjà vu. Must be nothing, she thinks, and then slides her lab coat on.
“H-hey, nurse?” Yume asks.
The nurse re-appears from the walls, “Yes, Yume?”
“What cycle day are we on?”
The nurse calculates for a moment and then answers, “We are currently mid-cycle at day 47.”
“Thank you.” Yume says, and then slides the remainder of her uniform on.
She finishes her toast and then exits her dormitory door, heading towards the elevator. It feels as though she blinks and then ends up directly in front of her pod terminal. She comes to and rubs her eyes, trying to adjust to the obnoxious overhead lighting.
All her co-candidates are present, and they file into the pod in their standard orderly line. Yume takes her seat upon the pod and stares out of her window. The pod doors close and pressurize with a cloud of vapor. With a loud CHUNK the pod sets off towards the packaging plant.
She can’t help but feel strange after such a vivid dream. Even though she cannot remember the events or even a small detail, it’s haunting her. In an attempt to take her mind off of it, she looks out the window, trying to get a glimpse of the nicer parts of town. The buildings in the horizon quickly flash before her eyes, as usual, but she swears she just saw one of them collapsing from the corner of her eye.
The pod comes to a grinding halt, suspended in the air above one of the nicer housing districts across the Rung. Yume leans forward in her chair, itching to see the issue causing this delay, but straightens out, remembering she must act orderly and professional within the pod.
She looks out into the city, taking in her current view in its fullest. There has never been such an opportunity to gaze upon this section of The Rung while stationary. Gargantuan, polished buildings litter the horizon. There is long, stretching factories producing pillowy clouds of pollution.
In the distance are tiny figures walking along their individual paths to their work. They are but tiny animated specs drifting through the infrastructure like ants through a system of tunnels. They are precise and flow beautifully around the street corners and alleyways.
On the turn of a dime, their motion ceases. It’s difficult to make out, but the figures closest to her showcase it clearly; they all have turned towards the pod, and are pointing up, right at her.
She gasps, wondering if perhaps the pod is in danger or is on fire. In desperation, she stands up and jets out into the aisle, scanning her co-candidates for a reaction. Their faces are blurring and the individual pores on their faces grow sharp edges. Their identities pixelate and glitch. In a panic, she returns to her seat and stares back towards the citizens beneath her. Surely there must be something she is missing.
She looks to a corner that she was certain contained people just moments ago, only to find it completely vacant. She scans and scans every corner, wishing a figure would appear, but it’s all for naught. The streets are empty, and the people have all gone to work.
She feels a thud in her chest, and then another shortly after, in a rhythmic pattern.
“Huh?” She thinks aloud.
Another set of murmurs belts out from within her; thud-thud. These repeat every second, growing stronger and stronger, until she can no longer recognize her own heartbeat. This new rhythm encompasses her. It feels as though it is pumping her blood.
Suddenly, she regains focus upon the buildings she’s been staring at. There is motion atop a building far in the back. It’s subtle and can only be noticed through the dust of caked pollution pouring off its edges. The top edge of it dips a few feet and then vanishes behind the surrounding skyline.
The row directly in front of the fallen building now quivers. One by one, the buildings crumble into the streets below. The city is devouring itself block by block. As the wave of collapse echoes forwards, the ground far beyond is being ripped away; eaten by a tide of emptiness.
This black current of consumption swallows everything in sight until it reaches the base of the structure that connects the pod-rail to the ground. Yume stares out into an ocean of unoccupied space.
Four thin, pointed fingers and a curled thumb stretch their way out of it and slam down upon the still intact land. This massive hand steadies itself and its counterpart arises from the abyss. It grabs ahold of Yume’s pod and crushes it as it pulls it off the track.
Yume screams out in horror as her co-candidates are squished and popped from the pressure. The roof of the pod comes ripping off and it falls against the ground before slipping into the darkness. The creature’s thumb tears the front and back section from the pod, leaving only Yume.
Like a demented rollercoaster, the pod slides down this giant arm and into the black waters. The moment it crashes, she feels an immense pressure on her forehead and dried blood cracking around it.
She tries to wipe her face and rub her eyes but is met with something solid sticking out between her eyebrows. The hands that once grabbed her pod are instead clenched upon her forehead, yanking a cord from it. Feeling the pressure leave and debilitating pain take its place, she falls to the floor. As she stares up at the ceiling, a man walks above her, scowling.
“Your old fate doesn’t seem so awful now, does it?” He speaks.
In a torrential wave of returning memories, Yume gasps.
“Sh-Shingetsu?!” She babbles out.
Shingetsu smiles and snickers to himself, dancing around the many corpses littered about.
“It is quite a pity our first attempt ended up in such futile hands.”
He says, while taking ahold of Yume’s mechanical arm.
Yume reaches with her other arm to activate her node and is apprehended by a vigilant tentacle. She watches as he rips the node from her socket and throws it on the ground. It illuminates the bodies near it in a subtle, blue glow. Shingetsu looks upon it and spits.
“We’ll dispose of it with the rest of the waste.”
He waves his hand and Yume desperately wriggles, giving it her all to slip from the tentacle’s grip. Shingetsu abruptly turns towards her after sensing resistance. A new vein slithers around her legs and pushes her into the bodies beneath her. The vein restraining her arm hooks onto her other hand and holds them together.
They lift her body and transport her directly beneath the cocoon. Completely robbed of free will, she stares up as the black cord drapes down and inches towards her face. It climbs up her torso and wraps itself around her neck before looping back and jabbing into her forehead.
In the fleeting moments before her consciousness is stolen from her, there is a deafening commotion. Flashing lights and sparks fly around her, with blood splashing upon her face. She feels something grabbing ahold of her arm and a powerful pressure.
The darkness grabs ahold of her mind yet again, and she enters the uncomfortable state of semi-consciousness. Her mind wants to fight it, but she has grown tired and irritable. She bitterly swallows the first mouthful of its liquid and lets it take control.