JULY 22nd, 2014.
I won’t let myself synchronize with Yggdrasil.
Seth’s hi-tops kick off the ground, pounding against the wet asphalt as he runs toward the spirit without a plan in mind, gun in hand and raised toward the fire elemental’s form. As he began to run, Yasu clashed his fight fist against the left side of its jaw, causing its head to recoil in the opposite direction.
No idea what’ll happen if I lose control again, that’s not a risk I should take.
Despite feeling the suffocating, uncomfortable heat in the air around the elemental, Seth began to circle to its right side as Yasu distracted it, firing at its hind leg in an attempt to immobilize its movement, even by a little. As the bullets leave the barrel, Seth notices an odd distortion with the muzzle flashes, and the two impacts against the elemental’s hind leg leave visible holes. That was not something a normal .45 caliber could pull off.
Something’s different with these… should I check the mag? No, I don’t have enough time.
As the elemental roars in response to the pain from the wound, its tail sweeps the ground next to Seth while he barely dodges it. Igniting the asphalt around him once more, he jumps backward before the sudden flash of fire burns his skin. Though he reacted as fast as possible, he could still feel the small hairs on his body singe against the heat.
If I get hit by that, I’m done for. No doubt about it.
The elemental growls in response to his agile movements, snarling at the both of them again.
“Quick bastards… but you’re only human.”
Yasu steps back from his continuous attacks, getting a read on the situation as the elemental crashes its front paws into the asphalt, ripping through it with its claws as yellow and red hot magma begins rushing out of the gashes.
“Well, shit. As if the property damage wasn’t going to cost enough already.” Yasu scoffs, rushing backward after grabbing Seth by the collar and dragging him along before the lava hits either of them. Before the raging heat of the magma catches up with them as Yasu dashes forward, he jumps in the air as Seth exclaims in pain, nearly being choked to death.
“Sera. Affix: ‘Lattice’.”
A rushing web of chains appears beneath them in mid-air, manifesting and hurling each chain into the walls of adjacent buildings, creating a tight mesh of chains that Yasu lands on as he lets Seth go. The both of them land on their feet as the lava rushes beneath them, with the chains holding strong against the heat below. Seth looks under him in horror as he realizes that if Yasu had hesitated for even a second, both of them would’ve been consumed by that river of red, yellow, and black. Yasu glances to his side toward Seth, giving him a dead stare.
“Looks like you’ve figured it out, rookie. If you spend your time thinking instead of fighting, you die.”
Yasu pulls out his flip phone and scrolls through his contact list as the spirit stands in defense inside the lava, not having moved from where they began to fight it. Putting his phone to his ear, Seth hears the phone ring.
“Do we really have the time for this?” he asks, unable to take his eyes off of the snarling elemental a ways ahead of them.
“Shut it. That thing won’t rush us, it’d make shooting at it easier.”
Seth glances down, realizing he unknowingly kept his gun trained toward the elemental’s forehead the entire time, a muscle memory response from his body in order to protect itself. Yasu’s phone stops ringing as someone answers.
“Sankiva, need you to okay two demolitions.”
…
“Where? Hell if I…”
He pauses before pointing the flip phone out with his arms as he takes a picture of the scene in front of him.
“Here. Now. And yeah, they’re evacuated.”
…
“Finally.”
Yasu flips the phone closed, and puts his hands into his pant pockets.
“Keep that gun pointed at it,” he says, stepping forward on the chain lattice, nearing the forward edge of it.
“What the hell are you planning to do?” Seth asks, frustrated. Yasu always seems smug and full of himself, but he’s never seen him do anything that backs it up.
Yasu lets out a gruff chuckle.
“Overkill, rookie.”
He raises his right hand out of his pant pocket, stepping forward with his right foot as his body angles to the side. Reaching out his index finger, he points toward the elemental with his hand shaped like a finger gun.
“Sera. V-pattern: ‘Coil’.”
A river of chains begins to rush in two directions in front of Yasu, wrapping themselves diagonally in multiple layers around two three-story buildings to the left and right sides of the fire elemental below them. As the chains slam themselves against both buildings, they shatter any windows they land against, and Seth watches as the pieces of glass hit the ground and melt into the lava. Once eight layers of chains have wrapped around each building, Yasu points his middle finger forward beside his index, as he makes a cutting motion with his hand, swiping it to the right.
“Sever.”
The chains begin to constrict against both buildings, crushing the outer walls where they lie as they start to break through the inner supports. Similarly to the windows, the rubble that falls from the damages crashes into the lava as it melts into the ground. As the chains for both buildings begin to cut further and further into them, the stable integrity of the fronts of the buildings facing the elemental give under the pressure, and two diagonally sliced upper halves begin to slide down their bottom counterparts, beginning to tilt and fall on top of the elemental.
“What…?!”
The elemental raises its head, only just realizing the intention behind Yasu’s attack. Before it can jump out of the way, the two halves of the buildings crash on top of it, causing a violent, rushing wave of magma to flow from the impact point. Dust and debris cover the air as a cloud as the rain knocks the dust back down, mixing with the mist that’s created by the droplets hitting the lava. Yasu steps back from the edge of the chain lattice, pulling out a cigarette from the box he keeps in his suit’s inner pocket. He crouches down and brushes the cigarette against the flowing lava momentarily, lighting it before he stands up with the same emotionless look on his face, beginning to take a drag from it.
That… that’s what someone who even the Administrators can’t control is capable of…?
He exhales as a cloud of dark smoke leaves his mouth, glancing toward Seth.
“What, rookie? You surprised I’m not all there in the head?”
He takes another drag, exhaling it out just the same.
“Yeah… like anyone in this job stays ‘sane’ for long. Take a good, long look. Fire, destruction…”
He points with his cigarette toward the disastrous scene in front of him.
“...That’s easy enough to cover up. Deaths, on the other hand…”
He continues to smoke, staring lifelessly at Seth.
“...They don’t forget those. Didn’t even see a corpse today…”
Yasu takes on a sarcastic, mocking tone.
“...Lucky you.”
Before Seth can process what Yasu said, they both notice a hot, bright like coming from underneath the rubble in front of them. Yasu scoffs, staring forward.
“Look at that… this thing just doesn’t die.”
A deep, pained voice comes from underneath the rubble, belonging to the light from behind it.
“Never satisfied with… killing your own kind, you hunt me as well…”
Blue flames begin to erupt against the surface of the lava as the elemental begins to harshly exhale and a thick, harsh smell fills the air. Before it hits Seth’s nostrils, something sticks out to him. Why was the elemental staying still before Yasu used Sera…? There was no real reason for it to. Yasu assumed that it was scared of being shot by Seth, but Seth knew that his aim wouldn’t be able to keep up with the quick movements of the elemental. If it really wanted to, it could’ve broken past and attacked the two of them… so why didn’t it?
As the blue flames continued to spread, steadily growing closer, a murky, heavy scent touched the inside of Seth’s nose… he scrunched it up and held it closed with his hand. It smelled horrible, like burnt, rotten eggs.
Then, he realized it. Yasu did as well.
Why the elemental had stayed so still, despite having the means to easily fight back against them.
As it continued to exhale, it was filling the air with something:
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Methane.
Both Seth and Yasu, immediately, figured out that the surrounding area was the equivalent of a giant gas leak just waiting for the elemental to explode it. Without saying a word, they both rushed down different branches of chains, wide enough to walk on, running toward the windows of their respective sides. Seth raises his gun up, firing a shot at the already cracked window to shatter it and give himself an opening, but as soon as the gun fires off, the elemental yells behind him.
“...IF THAT IS YOUR NATURE… I WILL BURN YOU AWAY!”
Oh, shit.
The elemental roars out a torrent of fire into the methane spread in front of it, igniting it as it explodes the entire front of the street, against the two buildings. Yasu had already reached the inside of one of the buildings, where the methane concentration hadn’t risen yet, but Seth was not as lucky. As the explosion hits his back and propels him forward, he crashes against the window he was attempting to jump into, being flung through the inside of the building. As he tumbles through the air, his body launches over a staircase right before he grabs on the edge of the railing as a large drop lies below him, and the blazing explosion sends itself burning above his head, scorching the walls above and to the sides of him as he hangs onto the rail for his life. After a few moments, the fire recedes, and the air around him smells putrid and burnt. He kicks off the side of the overhang, landing with a thud against the first floor’s staircase.
“Ugh… dammit…”
“You…”
Seth quickly looks up, startled by the voice. The lava had barely reached the inside of the floor, but the elemental was breaking through the front entrance as it spotted Seth on the staircase.
“...I had thought you were different. That was foolish of me.”
It growls at Seth as he stares dead in its eyes, seeing its sharp teeth exposed as its lips curl upward.
“I will not make the same mistake again.”
Not stopping to hesitate for even a moment, Seth turns around and starts sprinting up the stairs as fast as he can. Fire follows behind him, barely missing him as the elemental roars while beginning to chase.
“COME BACK HERE, HUMAN!”
Although he barely had time to notice it, Seth maneuvered his way onto the third floor where he found himself surrounded by office cubicles and various meeting rooms to the side. It was a very wide building, though that didn’t make him feel any safer.
Shit… time to play a dangerous game of cat and mouse.
He slammed his body into one of the meeting room doors, opening it with great force before closing it as quietly as he possibly could. No windows were looking into the room, and he was betting on the elemental checking the cubicles for him instead.
I’ll wait for it to burn through those… and then shoot it in the head
He didn’t know if that would kill it, but he figured it was worth a shot. Just as his resolve steeled and he waited for the sound of the fire outside of the door, he noticed the floor a few meters to his right begin to glow.
It was melting from below.
…You’ve gotta be kidding me.
Slamming out of the office door as the entire third floor begins to melt from below, he rushes toward the staircase again, quickly making his way to the fourth. It had a similar layout, nearly identical to the 3rd, but there was one large difference.
As he turned the corner, the elemental stood in the middle of the room, waiting.
“You fell for it, human...”
How…?! The floor below was…?!
Getting a better look, he can see the air around the elemental’s snout distort as it briefly exhales. Then, Seth makes the connection. It had released an amount of methane on the second floor and must’ve set a fire near it to trick him into thinking it was still there. Despite the animalistic appearance, Seth realized far too late…
…That this spirit was just as capable of tactical thought as he was.
If it’s come to this, then… I have to…
Images of Kat’s bloodied, twisted body lying on the floor of the arena flood Seth’s mind, forcing him to wince at the very thought of that happening again.
No, I can’t… I have to find another way.
The elemental snarls once more as Seth raises his pistol, aiming toward his head.
“You have nowhere else to go. There is nowhere you can hide.”
Seth noticed that ever since the elemental was trapped under the rubble of the two buildings earlier, its flames had lowered in intensity, though they still burned brightly… more importantly, it seemed to be avoiding large attacks.
Earlier, if I ran in here… it could’ve just melted the entire building with me in it… but it chose to chase me in here. Why?
As Seth intently watches the elemental, it opens its mouth to show its teeth, but he notices something different this time.
The usual flames that would spew out were just measly sputters.
You’re running out of gas, aren’t you?
Seth shifts his stance to one filled with more confidence, as the elemental notes the change in body language.
“What are you thinking, human…? I have every upper hand against you.”
Seth was focused on one thing, but didn’t directly look at it because he knew it would hint at it to the elemental. Where its paws were standing… the floor slowly melted and began to give way.
Alright… let’s do this.
Seth runs forward and to the elemental’s right side, shooting its chest as the bullet passes through and leaves a hole. The elemental brings up its blazing paw, trying to hit Seth with it, but he slides under the swipe as he feels his body temperature increase rapidly.
Dammit, too close for too long…
He twists his body, stopping the slide with his right hand’s fingertips as his body arches forward, steadying the gun toward the elemental but not firing.
Stay there… don’t move.
The floor begins to melt under the area of the floor where the elemental’s paws are, and if you drew a line connecting the two melted areas, they’d begin to make a crescent. Seth darts forward again, barely dodging another swipe from one of its paws as he breaks through the border of a cubicle, rolling on the other side.
…It’s getting tired, all it can really do at this point is turn and attack.
Another rush, another few shots fired… the melted indents have almost created a circle around the elemental. As Seth fires another shot off near its snout, he miscalculates the trajectory of his run as one of the paws comes crashing into his back and left shoulder, burning into his clothes. He gets knocked back through three different cubicles, tumbling through them before stopping on the wall before the fourth.
Gah… my body is sizzling…
Slouched down over his legs, the elemental turns to face him as he coughs out a small bit of blood, choking against the pain.
“This game of ours is over now, human.”
However, right before the elemental can take a step, the third floor begins to give out in the middle from the structural instability of the middle melting.
“Yeah…” Seth retorts while coughing in pain, pointing toward the elemental with a smug, pained teeth-showing grin. “...For you.”
Seth’s plan had worked, as the elemental crashed down onto the second, and then broke through onto the first floor, sprawling out on its side in pain. Seth sluggishly walked over to the edge of the collapse with his pistol in his right hand, unable to move his left arm at all. The skin had crisped over, visible through the torn suit. His waistcoat was also scorched, though not irreparably so. As the elemental watches him through its paralyzed eyes, it sees Seth raise the gun and aim it down toward him.
“You…” it begins to mutter, in great pain, “...take action with no… second thought… a dog… more of an animal… than even I…”
It glares at him, sluggishly gritting its teeth in an act of defiance.
“If she… does not pass on… because of you… my soul…”
Seth puts his finger over the trigger, hesitating. Part of him doesn’t want to pull it, but…
“...I shall haunt your soul… far longer than… the remainder of your life…”
…Seth pulls the trigger, firing a round against its body.
Again.
And again.
And again.
And again.
Until the voice that caused him to doubt himself and those around him…
…Was nothing more than a fading essence, lost to the crackling of the endless fires around them mixed with the torrential downpour of the rain.
Though he had won against the spirit, and though he kept his life…
…Something in the very deepest parts of his soul began to say that he had made yet another mistake.
. . . . .
Copper.
The air smelled of copper, if only it could rot.
It was a smell that would make anyone fall ill, drowning everything in its presence.
In an inconspicuous alleyway, like any other in the Garden… and especially in the Outer Layer, there was a sight that was beyond horrific.
Unprecedented violence.
Corpses of multiple men, their bodies crudely disassembled and mutilated.
Across the alley, organs and limbs were strung up meticulously, sadistically…
…Using the fiber of their muscles like string.
It was a horrendous, disgusting piece of cruelty.
Their heads were missing features by which to identify them.
They were taken, and sprawled out like a devilish artwork, across the alleyway they were strung up in.
On the wall next to them, was a directed message.
A question.
It read:
WHO KILLED POOR ALICE?
It was written in their blood, sloppily painted by someone’s hands.
Unbeknownst to anyone else but the one who had murdered them, these were the men who had brutally killed the young girl… A blonde girl, wearing a blue dress. The very girl the fire elemental fought to avenge.
They had dumped her body in a trash can.
Their killer found it before the spirit did. As her flesh had already been disgraced, the killer hadn’t touched it. Instead, they hunted for the ones who did it.
And when they found them, the group stared.
They laughed to themselves, calling the one standing in front of them a deranged freak.
And now, that freak stands upon a pool of their blood.
Wrapped in torn, bloodied trash bags fit tightly against their body.
They were held in place by ravaged, barely held-together strips of police tape.
Through their mask, which had only two holes, their bright red eyes pierced through the night… the same color as the crimson they muddied their feet with.
Nothing else was visible.
This was a horror that the Garden had never known before.
Even in the Outer Layer, something capable of an evil like this…
…Was outcasted, or killed, before they had the chance to ruin what little peace this place had.
Yet, there they were.
Alive.
Unphased.
Sluggishly making their way deeper into the alley, retreating into the shadows.
Whether something that looked like that…
And walked like that…
That could do something so disgusting, was human?
That wasn’t a question anyone could answer.
Neither the ones who were brutalized by the one in question…
…Nor the Gatekeepers who found the men’s corpses the next morning.