Chapter XIII
Despite the pure terror rushing through her, Lilly forced herself to act confident as she prepared to face Nigreos Noctis once again. They still didn’t know for certain whether he was a friend or an enemy, nor did they know how much he knew about them. Playing her cards close to the chest would be critical to getting answers out of him, so if he found out how shaken and scared she was, he would be able to take control of the conversation and twist it in whatever way best suited his interests. With his wealth of knowledge about Ijiria and magic, she would be at his mercy. That was the result she needed to avoid, especially if he turned out to be their enemy.
I just wish I could see him, she thought, glancing around the dark world that was her surroundings. I know how Eric described him, but this would be so much easier if I could see his face. It might give some indication as to what he’s thinking. What makes it even worse is that I don’t understand the rules of this place. Can he hear these thoughts now? I mean, I can’t hear his…but then again, that doesn’t mean anything.
“I had a feeling you’d be interested in talking,” Nigreos began, his tone calm. “So your memories were successfully returned.”
“They were,” she replied firmly, surprising herself with how well she prevented her voice from shaking. “Why did you erase them? I thought you wanted information from me. Kinda hard to barter with you when I don’t know you exist.”
There was another laugh, and Lilly wondered just how much the man was enjoying their conversation.
“Fair point, Miss Harper,” he said. “However, circumstances dictated that it was better safe than sorry. You left our meeting rather abruptly last time, and I feared that you might begin speaking of me to…others. I didn’t want that.”
Lilly swallowed fearfully at his words but pressed on despite that. “Well, there’s no need to worry about it this time. I’ve got five minutes before my friends swap me back. Until then, say what you want. At this point, I’m willing to listen.”
“Oh? At this point, you say?”
His voice was all she had to go on, but he was speaking in a way that she couldn’t deduce what was actually going through his head. She couldn’t tell whether he was genuinely intrigued or simply putting on a show.
“Then tell me, Harper, what’s happened to you in the recent days? What would make you so willing to barter now?”
She considered his question for a moment before deciding that she would answer, revealing only what Nigreos most likely would already know.
“Terrible things have been happening,” she replied. “I don’t know where you are right now, so maybe you’ve already heard, but there was an attack at a nearby family restaurant. Every staff member working that night was murdered, and one of my best friends disappeared. On the same night, another friend of mine vanished from his hospital bed in what I doubt is a coincidence.”
“Curious,” he murmured, and once again, he revealed nothing of what he thought on the matter. “But I’m afraid I don’t understand why that would make you want to speak with me. Terrible events such as those are commonplace in any realm. Don’t tell me you think I’m the one who hurt them.”
Damn it! I really can’t tell if he’s playing dumb!
“I don’t know who’s behind it,” she called back. “But the reason I know it can’t be a coincidence that they happened on the same night is because…on Friday, a friend and I were attacked by a monster…and that creature was using the body of the boy from the hospital. I wanted to talk to you because I felt that a so-called Master of Ijiria should know what that was.”
Nigreos didn’t respond immediately, leaving her floating in that darkness in silence. Lilly anxiously thought about how much time had already passed and wished the man would hurry up and reply.
“That truly is fascinating,” he said finally. “I do know of a creature that possesses the bodies of its victims, but it isn’t something one can just escape from. Tell me…how are you still alive, Lilly Harper?”
“I can’t tell you,” she replied the moment the question reached her ears. “I don’t know if I can trust you yet. For all I know, you’re the one who sent that monster after us. I don’t know a single thing about you, Mr. Noctis, so unless you can give me some way to prove that you’re not my enemy, I can’t tell you everything. That’s why I want to barter.”
“Proof you can trust me, huh?” he parroted. “Well, I must apologize, but I can't give you that.”
“W-what?” she stuttered, taken aback by his sudden and rather blunt refusal.
“I can’t give you any proof,” he repeated. “Because I am the one who attacked that diner and I am the one who sent poor little Jay Brooks after you and Mr. Reiner.” As a wave of horror spread through her mind, the meaning of his words truly processing, Nigreos merely laughed. “I am your enemy, Harper.”
No… What the hell?! What is this?! I knew it was possible, likely even, but I never thought he’d just come right out and say it! He’s the one who corrupted Jay! He’s the one who killed all those people at the diner?!
Despite knowing that keeping her composure was crucial to the success of the conversation, Lilly couldn’t help but shout out at him, “But why?! Does that mean…you're the one who took Alice?! And you’re the one who wiped Vinny Mickelson from existence?!”
She expected him to laugh again and to gloat about how he was responsible for that, too, but she was once again surprised. Instead, the entire world felt like it shook, and emotion that wasn’t her own entered her being. She could feel shock and fury and she instinctively knew that it was Nigreos’s emotions.
W-what did I say? Why is he—?
“How do you know who Mickelson is?” he demanded, his voice soft. “He should have been forgotten so how do you know that name?”
In one sentence, Nigreos both confirmed that Vinny Mickelson had actually existed and that he was the one behind his disappearance. Despite having already received numerous answers to her questions, none of them were making her feel better. In fact, she was only realizing just how much danger she had put herself in by deciding to talk to Nigreos. It was his fault. He had caused everything that had happened in the last week.
“I’m not telling you,” she replied, though this time, her voice did shake. Her false confidence was wavering in the face of the man who truly was her enemy, and she feared that her attempts to act strong were already doomed to fail. “If what you’re saying is true, then you erased a close friend of mine! And what you did to Jay…is unforgivable! Why?! Why are you doing this to us?! Is it because of the stone cause we didn’t steal it! You can have it back if you want, just—!”
“No,” he interrupted sharply. “Taking the stone is simple. But you see, Ijirian law dictates that any non-magical intelligent being who learns of magic’s existence must be wiped from the multiverse.”
Wiped from…the multiverse? Anybody who knows magic exists?
All at once, images of those who used the stone flashed through her mind: Jay, Alice, Damien, Liz, Brad, Natalie, and even Evan and Rina. If what Nigreos was saying was true, then he intended for each of them to meet Mickelson’s fate.
No…that can’t be…
“But we haven’t done anything wrong!” Lilly shouted, abandoning any sense of composure. “Please, Mr. Noctis! We won’t tell a soul about magic, and even if we did, nobody would believe us! There’s no need to go that far!”
“I’m sorry, Harper,” he replied. “But the law is law and I will uphold it. So why don’t you make my job easier and tell me the names of every person who touched that relic.”
Her mouth moved before her mind had truly processed the question. “No! Why would I do that if you’re just going to—!”
She stopped mid-sentence as an image appeared in her head. It was so clear that she knew it was real and not some intrusive thought brought about by stress. She saw Alice tied up in a chair with a gag over her mouth and her eyes blindfolded. Her right leg was severed from the knee down and she looked like she was in an awful state. The image then disappeared and soon after, Nigreos spoke.
“What you just saw was real,” he said. “Alice Mendez is currently being kept with us and, should we decide to, we could end her life with the snap of a finger.”
Despite not having a body, Lilly could still feel her physical form and the shaking of her voice had now spread all across her. Nigreos wasn’t lying. The incident at the diner had made that clear. Should he decide it was necessary, he would kill Alice without a second thought.
“Now, I don’t want to kill her,” Nigreos went on. “But I will do what I have to do. So, Lilly Harper, you said you wanted to barter, so let’s barter. You give me the names of everybody who touched that stone, and I won’t kill Mendez. If you decide defying me is a better option, I’ll cut her head off and toss it into your school’s courtyard for all the students to see. Do we have an understanding?”
She was horrified and the entire situation was suddenly more hopeless than she had believed. Yet, somehow, she was still able to argue.
“What does it matter?” she uttered. “If I give up the names, you’ll kill us anyway. There’s nothing I can do so why should I make your job any easier?”
He snorted. “Don’t misunderstand. Erasure and death are not the same thing. One is far more merciful. So trust me, Harper. You’ll be better off getting erased than getting killed.”
What does that even mean? Is he implying that people who get erased aren’t dead? Or is he just saying that it’s not as painful of a way to go? Either way…we’re backed into a corner. We can’t fight this. This man…is far more powerful than we could ever hope to be.
“I’ll give you one week,” he said. “I’ll attempt to contact you again at this same time seven days from now to hear your answer. If you decide to cooperate, simply give us the names and help us track them down. If not…well, come the following morning, Alice Mendez will be dead. If you don’t obey after that, we’ll kill Jay Brooks. And if you still decide that you would rather fight us, well…we’ll just start killing any random civilians we come across. I’m one of the most powerful people in my one world…in yours, I might as well be a god. It would take little effort to hold this entire city hostage. So…use your brain, Harper. You know there’s no escape.”
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She wanted to say something. She wanted to shout at him that they weren’t powerless. She wanted to tell him that Eric would stop him, but she knew it would just be baseless lies. Even with Eric’s magic, he could barely stand up to the monster, so how could he ever hope to fight Nigreos Noctis.
There was nothing they could do.
It was hopeless.
Then, without any warning, she was suddenly back in the world of white that always preceded her return to the real world. For those few seconds, she reveled in the peace that world brought her, before she opened her eyes to find herself sitting in one of the clubroom’s chairs. When she looked up, Eric, Liz, and Damien were all staring back at her in anticipation.
“Well?” Eric prompted. “What happened?”
She wanted to cry, but she found she didn’t have it in herself to do so. Instead, she just stared blankly back at him, and uttered the only thing she could.
“Nigreos has Alice.”
***
The clubroom was silent long after Eric and Lilly finished their explanations and Liz truly believed they hadn’t left anything out. Both looked completely beaten in a way that she had never seen before, and as they spoke of Vinny Mickelson, the monster that attacked them, and Nigreos Noctis, they sounded so scared that Liz wished she could do something for them. Their stories were insane and she believed every word. However, that belief came with the acceptance that her very life was in danger, as was everybody else’s who ever used the stone. For some reason, she didn’t find herself scared. Instead, she didn’t feel anything. She just sat on the surface of the desk and twiddled her fingers as she considered everything she had heard.
I should be terrified right now…so why aren’t I?
Perhaps it was because she hadn’t seen any of it with her own eyes, she wondered. She couldn’t remember Vinny Mickelson. She’d never spoken to Nigreos Noctis. And she hadn’t been present when the creature inside of Jay attacked Lilly and Eric. In a way, it wasn’t any different from the stories Eric would tell all throughout their friendship. The only true difference was that there was nothing fun or exciting about what was happening. It was more like a horror story. Alice would die if they didn’t give themselves up, and if they did, then their entire existence would be erased from the world. Just like Mickelson, nobody would remember them.
So would my parents just forget they ever had a daughter? Would it be like these sixteen years of my life just didn’t happen?
As she asked herself that question, she realized she already knew the answer. Eric had visited the Mickelson household and they didn’t remember ever having a son. Vinny Mickelson’s bedroom was replaced by an office and his existence was forgotten by all except Eric.
At the very least…if I’m erased, my family will be the only ones to truly forget about me. All of my friends…would be meeting the same fate.
As twisted as it was, she found some comfort in that thought. She didn’t want to imagine Damien forgetting about her, or even her forgetting about him. As it was, she couldn’t fathom something like that actually happening, yet according to Eric, she would have felt similarly about Mickelson and she had forgotten him. Could she really say she wouldn’t forget Damien if he were wiped from the world.
No…I can’t think like that. I would never forget Damien. I love him far too much to just forget he ever existed. He changed my life and I changed his. Without him, I wouldn't even be the girl I am now.
Liz sighed then raised her head to look around the room. Damien was sitting at his usual spot in the back, his head in his hands and his back to them all. Eric was silently pacing by Mr. Lowe’s desk, and Lilly was asleep in the desk to her right, having passed out from exhaustion shortly after their story ended. She looked peaceful now, which Liz was happy about. Ever since they spoke on Saturday morning, she had noticed that something was wrong, and only seemed like Lilly was getting progressively worse as time went on. When she saw the girl at lunch that morning, she looked like she was barely keeping her eyes open. That had been the last straw.
Damien had insisted that they give the two some space and that they would talk to them eventually, but after seeing how terrible Lilly looked, she just couldn’t put up with it. She didn’t mean to go off on Eric like she had, but she had been so frustrated that the boy would try to hide something as seemingly awful as he was. She wanted him to trust her and despite how terrifying the answer was, Liz was happy to be able to bear the burden with them. She had meant every word she said to them earlier. The two of them had helped so many people, and thus, it wasn’t fair for them to deal with everything alone.
“So?” she began finally, wanting to break the suffocating silence. “What’s the plan, Eric? What are we going to do?”
The boy stopped pacing but he didn’t look at her. Instead, he kept his gaze fixated on the ground. “What can we do, Liz? This man has already proven just how powerful he is. If we try to fight him, not only will we all die, but innocent people could as well.”
“So you’re just giving up?” she pressed. “You’re just gonna have Lilly give that guy our names and let us all be erased?”
He didn’t immediately respond. She could only imagine how conflicted he was. Eric had always been the type to help anybody he could. If somebody needed him, he would extend his hand to them and do what he could. That was how the Magic Club came to be in the first place—she and Damien were alone and he gave them a place to belong. Even without her memories of him, she suspected it would have been similar for Mickelson. When Eric got the gem, he used that power for good and he helped everyone he could. But now, there was no helping everyone. Either he allowed Alice, Jay, and innocent civilians to be killed or he told Noctis their names and they all died anyway.
“What would you have me do, Liz?” he uttered. “He’s got Alice and Jay…and he’s already proven that he’s not bluffing. He killed innocent people at the diner and the hospital…and he’s already taken Vinny from us. I couldn't fight him if he were alone, but he’s got some monster with him that I barely escaped with my life.”
Liz got to her feet, desperate to find some answer. “But you have magic, right? You said you escaped that thing with magic so why can’t you—?!”
“Because I’m just a novice!” he shouted, cutting her off. “I already told you! I only just recently found out I could use magic and my skill is purely out of the knowledge I’ve memorized over the years. But I’m not trained! I don’t know what I’m doing!”
“Yeah, but…”
He rounded on her, his expression so full of pain that it startled her.
“But Nigreos Noctis is an Ijirian Master!” he continued. “My mother told me all about them—about how they’re the most powerful magic users in their country! So not only is this man trained, but he’s more powerful than almost everybody in his world! So what can I do?! I’m just some nobody from a world where magic doesn’t exist! I’m a teenager!”
She couldn’t respond to that. Everything he said was probably right. If Nigreos Noctis was even half as powerful as they believed he was, they didn’t stand a chance. He would just kill them all with barely a second thought. Eric was thinking about it logically and she couldn’t fault him for that. Yet, she really wanted to see the normal Eric Reiner. She wanted him to declare that the Magic Club could overcome anything. She wanted him to put on his extravagant act and laugh as they discussed ways to win. She knew what was happening wasn’t a joke, but even in their darkest times, Eric Reiner lit up the room with his cheer. To see him so broken and desperate made Liz want to cry.
“Eric,” Damien suddenly said, getting to his feet and walking across the room to stand beside his girlfriend. “Look, man, don’t give up yet. We’ve got a week to figure this out so…who knows? Maybe something will happen that will give us some sort of upper hand.”
But Eric was already shaking his head. “It won’t, Damien. There’s no such thing as miracles. You were right. I should have listened to you.”
Damien frowned. “What are you—?”
“All those numerous times you told me not to screw around with something I didn’t understand! Every time I wanted to use the gem, you urged me not to because we didn’t know who used to own it or what other magic could exist. And now, after all this time, the owner has come back with powers that we can’t even comprehend! You were right! Every single god damn thing you said was right!”
Damien looked away, seemingly unable to come up with a response. However, just as Liz was about to try and argue the point, her boyfriend spoke again.
“Maybe,” he muttered. “But just because I was right doesn’t mean I’m going to leave you to deal with it alone. Yeah, I was afraid of something like this, but what’s done is done, and now we need to fight it. That’s the only answer left.”
“But we can’t fight it!” Eric shouted.
“Then we’ll find a way we can!” Damien retorted fiercely. “Come on, Eric! Don’t give up! If you do…then it’s all over! This club and the people we’ve helped will cease to exist and the past year will have been for nothing! Do you want that to happen?! Do you want us all to disappear?!”
Eric furiously shook his head. “Of course I don’t! But what I want and what’s going to happen can’t always be the same thing! I would never want to lose what we’ve built here, but our enemy is a walking calamity! I don’t know much about the Master of Darkness specifically, but I know how powerful Masters are! My mother always talked about them like they were on another level entirely! If we fight Nigreos, we’ll all die!”
“And if we don’t fight him, we’ll die anyway!” Liz snapped, inserting herself back into the argument. “I, for one, would rather go down fighting than just lay down and take it! We’ve got a week so let’s put our heads together like we always have and figure something out!”
Eric looked ready to argue the point some more before his body weakened and he leaned back against Lowe’s desk. His anger and desperation was gone, replaced by a look devoid of emotion.
“I’m sorry, guys,” he uttered after a moment. “I just…can’t.”
For the first time since she met him, Eric Reiner had reached his limit, and there was nothing they could say to pull him out.
***
Damien and Liz left soon after their argument with Eric and began heading home. Since Nigreos had essentially told Lilly that he didn’t know who his targets were, they had decided to hope that he didn’t know anything about the two of them. Despite that, Eric still wanted to walk them home, but Damien urged him to stay back with Lilly. He couldn’t keep watch on them 24/7 and if Nigreos wanted to go after them, he could easily get into their houses. Nowhere was safe, and so, they just had to hope that the man would wait until the time limit was up.
Damien glanced sidelong at Liz as they walked, and it was clear by her furrowed brow that she was thinking hard about the situation. So he chose to just grip her hand tighter and leave her be. He was content thinking about it all as well. He still wasn’t sure how to process it, but he did know that he meant every word he said to Eric. He didn’t want them to give up just yet because giving up meant they were all going to die. It was a surreal thought and he wasn’t really sure how to handle it. The possibility that this coming week could be his last didn’t feel real. Instead, it felt like some stupid joke and that at any point, somebody would jump out and reveal it all to be a prank.
If I die…hell, if I’m erased from existence, what will happen? I guess the school won’t have to be afraid of me anymore.
He was sad that his first thought was about how his disappearance would be for the benefit of others, but he knew that wasn’t too far from the truth. The only people who would actually miss him had all touched the stone at some point as well. Anybody who would care would vanish with him, and all trace of Damien Clark would be gone.
No…I don’t want that to happen. I don’t want to disappear. A shiver ran down his spine. There has to be some way to fight this. Eric can’t be right. It can’t already be hopeless!
“Hey, Damien?” Liz asked softly.
“Yeah?”
“W-what…” She paused. “What about the others? Us club members aren’t the only ones in danger here. Fischer, Wright, Davens…Natalie… Nigreos wants to kill them all and they don’t even know they’re in danger.”
Damien swallowed, having already thought about it and then quickly shoved it from his mind. He was scared enough as it was, but to think there were four others who would have to die with them only made his desire to fight even stronger.
“I don’t know,” he muttered. “But it’s just another reason to stand our ground. None of them…not even Wright…deserve to die…and by giving up, we’re condemning them to death with us.”
“Poor Natalie…” Liz whispered. “That girl…would be terrified if we told her what could be coming.”
“Then we don’t tell her,” Damien replied firmly. “We stop this Nigreos Noctis ourselves before she ever knows she’s in danger. The other three, however…should probably know.”
The bespectacled girl frowned. “You…think we should tell them? Even Wright?”
Damien nodded. “Yes, I do. We shouldn’t keep this from them. Natalie is the only one I think should be out of the loop. She’s too young. It would just freak her out, and that would make her mother panic.”
“You sound so confident,” she murmured. “Do you really think we have a shot of surviving this?”
“I…” He clenched his free fist, thinking about all of the people who would be wiped from existence if they failed to do something. “...hope so.”