Rin was surprised when Rayve found the way to the Heart Shop almost effortlessly. The alleys twisted and turned like a maze threatening to swallow them, but Rayve navigated the route with the certainty of a regular.
A feeble light flickered behind the glass doors. The signage above creaked as it swung back and forth.
She stared at the steps leading down to the entrance and asked, “How did you do it?”
Rayve, with his fists clenched and face lined with determination, said, “Who cares? We’re here.”
He made his way down the stairs and barged through the doors. The bell tinkled, the sound reverberating into the distance.
“Hayle!” His voice was loud and rude enough to wake slumbering things that ought to keep slumbering. Rin had the impulse to shut him up.
At the center were metal bars that traversed the entire height of the shop. Behind the bars stood a table, illuminated by a small hanging red lightbulb they could see from the outside.
The signboard let out a long, weary whine.
Sitting very still and empty-eyed, skin dyed reddish by the light that cast shadows over his features, the prisoner within the cage was Hayle.
“Hayle!” Rayve crossed the room, grabbed the bars, and shook them. “Wake up! Come to your senses!”
The back of Rin’s neck prickled. The signboard creaked again.
“Hayle! Look at me!”
Almost instinctively, Rin’s eyes traveled upwards to the dense shadows above them.
“Hey,” she warned, not looking away. “We’ve got company.”
A burst of malice erupted from above, like an invisible hand prying Rayve away from the bars, followed by an ear-splitting cry that sounded like the sound of a gate that was in dire need of oiling. Rayve rolled over onto all fours, cushioning his fall.
The Seed took the form of a corrugated sphere with a single eye in the middle. It towered over them. Tendrils hung from it, extending down to Hayle’s body, draping themselves around his arms almost possessively.
Hayle’s eyes flickered shut, and he keeled over.
Rayve’s eyes glinted with fury. “You scum!”
He charged forward. Using the table as leverage, he leaped into the air and charged the Seed with a magnetic field.
Rin drew out her throwing knives.
“Stay out of it, Elziel!” Rayve snarled. “It’s mine!”
Repelled by the Seed’s magnetic field, the metal bars blew apart, sending shards flying outwards. On the verge of hitting the ground, they stopped, spun like a needle on a compass, and flew towards it.
The splinters skewered the Seed, sharp ends piercing through its thin surface.
“How dare you touch him?”
The small weapons tore and hacked at the tendrils with each word. One after another, they broke free from Hayle. The Seed reeled, the eyeball rolling upwards on itself.
Rayve darted around it, manipulating the fields. The Seed bulged and ballooned, making strangled sounds, the remnants of its tendrils wasted on the ground.
Rin watched, a frown forming between her brows. It was rare to see a Seed that hardly retaliated.
“Wait, this is –”
The eye shuddered violently. Rin barely had time to shield herself as the Seed broke apart. Dust showered onto them, most of it falling onto Hayle.
Coughing as she accidentally inhaled some of it, she thought she heard a distant wail – a faraway siren distorted onto itself like a dying radio.
Silence.
For a moment, Rin found herself standing in darkness – cold, chilling, and alive.
Then, the stillness broke, and the Territory rippled. A loud, drawn-out cry reverberated throughout the space, like an infant throwing a tantrum after being woken up from sleep and robbed of its favorite toy.
Great, he had done it. She had meant to tell Rayve this was not the Seed they were after; this was probably just a part of its body. Destroying it seemed to have alerted the Seed, and now it was mad.
Rayve seized Hayle, hair and shoulders white with dust, hoisted him onto his shoulders, and turned to Rin. “What are you waiting for? Let’s get out of here!”
*
“This has to be the place, right? I mean, it reeks.” Edwin wrinkled his nose, staring at the invisible barrier of a Territory ahead of him.
The owner of the pickle store nearby heard him and scowled.
Moments after they arrived at the town of Pallin, they were greeted by a powerful Seed presence. Kazu glanced at the signboard next to them: Osmanthus Street – all lights and soul of the evening.
“Arr ‘oo planning ‘o visit ‘ze famous street, young man?” an elderly man running the hardware shop opposite called out, flashing his missing front teeth. “Fraid ‘oo arr ‘oo early. ‘Ze shops ‘zere only opens after ‘ze sun ‘oes down.”
“Not a good place, that street,” the disagreeable-looking pickle seller said, barely looking up.
“You’re only saying that because they robbed your business,” a middle-aged lady carrying a basket of laundry chipped in scornfully as she walked past.
“I’m not!” the pickle seller snapped. “Look, you don’t go around talking behind my back just because I refused to sell you my –”
“What do you mean, it’s not a good place?” Kazu interrupted.
The man shrugged, scratching his stubble. “No one from here goes in there. And yet, every evening the streets just fill up with people.”
There was a long silence.
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“You’re making it sound like a horror story!” The lady with the laundry gasped.
“I’m not making it up, woman! Look, my stall is right next to the entrance, and I’m open every day. Barely anyone passed by here, see?” The pickle seller flushed red as he spoke. “Unless they’re invisible!”
Edwin leaned closer to Kazu and whispered, “Reckon he’s quite right. Strange how the Council never found out about this place.”
“They wouldn’t if no one ever reported it,” Kazu pointed out. The street ahead was empty, but he was certain it was a mirage created to fool outsiders. “Let’s go.”
“Hey!” the pickle seller called out. “You don’t believe me?”
Edwin glanced over his shoulder. “Of course, we believe you, mister. That’s the reason we’re going in.”
With a chuckle, he went after Kazu, leaving the flabbergasted man behind.
*
The Seed was enraged.
The ground distorted and undulated as they made their way along the tortuous alleys. Rin had no idea where they were going. Cries for help, wails of agony, and screams of fear filled her ears, painting imagery of a war-torn landscape, a disaster-split region, a tragedy-marred household. It was difficult to keep herself upright as the ground rocked and shifted.
Rayve was a short distance ahead of her, dodging a dislodged brick that threatened to split his skull while carrying Hayle on his back. Nearly tripping over loose stones, she gripped the pillars and walls as she followed him.
They ran and ran. The quaking, falling debris, and noise followed them tirelessly, drilling into her ears.
The alleys let up to the courtyard of the apartment earlier.
They were greeted by a horrible sight. The inhabitants were outside, rolling on the ground, clutching their heads and screaming incoherent words.
Losing its source of food, the Seed had turned on the people linked to its Territory.
Rin couldn’t help wondering if their actual selves still existed, tormented by the Seed, or was this another part of a show put up by the Master?
A man staggered towards them, moaning, hands outstretched. Rayve sidestepped him, and he lurched forward, losing balance, and fell.
“Give me… Give…me…” Another man lumbered from the shadows, a kitchen knife glinting in his hand. “Give me your heart!” he roared and charged Rin.
She grabbed his hand and twisted. With a cry, the man dropped the knife, and she kicked his feet from underneath him, sending him falling face down.
“Help me…” The little girl she kept seeing stumbled towards her. She broke into a run, pouncing on Rin with surprising agility and strength, knocking her onto the ground.
“Elziel!” She barely heard Rayve’s voice over the din.
A pair of cold, small hands wrapped themselves around her neck. “Help me,” the girl begged. Behind the tears falling off her cheeks, she was smiling.
An expression of exhilaration.
Rin pushed her away, and the girl rolled across the pavement, clambering to her feet like it did not hurt in the least.
“Elziel!” Rayve said again. “Let’s leave!”
The girl was making her way towards Rin again, still smiling. Rin opened her mouth –
Quiet.
The scene and the noises glitched like a malfunctioning videotape, and then suddenly, the lights flared up, and the streets became lively again.
The people who were shrieking in pain earlier got to their feet, put smiles on their faces, and hurried off towards the main street. The girl let out a delighted laugh and scampered away.
This was another form of madness.
The clockwork had malfunctioned.
Every time it happened and the way it did, Rin felt her sanity slip away by a margin.
“Elziel, hurry!” Rayve said. Hayle was still unconscious on his back. “We need to get him out of here as soon as possible.”
She refused to move. Enough of being pulled and pushed around.
Every Hunter knew that escape was impossible and pointless when facing a rampaging Seed that was close to maturity. There was only one way to end it all, and it was to destroy the Seed’s core once and for all.
It was clear that the street and its inhabitants were running out of time. Most of them had probably already expired. They were now standing on a ticking time bomb, and the gates were tightly barricaded.
Yet Rayve, he –
She had felt there was something off with him when she met him after encountering Hayle, and she could not place her finger on it. Was he pretending, or did he not realize it himself?
“You led me here.” She said.
“Huh? What are you talking about?”
“You found the Heart Shop. You knew where you were going all the time, yet you led me here. You also knew the Seed that trapped Hayle is not the real thing. What are you trying to do?”
Rayve blinked, his eyebrows pinched together into a frown. “What do you mean? I’m trying to get us out of here! Hayle needs help.”
“To help Hayle is to destroy the actual Seed, not to rile it up and then try to escape. You and I both know this very well.”
Confusion flashed across his face. “I…”
“Why are you intentionally, or unintentionally, stalling? Exactly whose side are you on?”
Rayve opened and closed his mouth – but no words came.
“Oh, well, they just have to disturb me when I’m trying to sleep.”
Lazy and lulling. Low and languid.
Rin and Rayve spun in the direction of the voice.
He was dressed like a townsperson: baggy clothes with not much consideration for style or color. A tomato stain adorned the front of his shirt. Tall, lanky, and slouching, his hair appeared to be the most neglected part of his body, unkempt like a fraying brush, hanging over his ears and nearly touching his shoulder. He squinted at them through drooping eyelids that seemed perpetually drowsy.
The back of Rin’s neck prickled.
Not a single sound, not a hint of his presence, and suddenly, he was there. It was always the unassuming ones that were the most dangerous because they were easily overlooked and underestimated.
This man was a very dangerous person.
Rayve clearly sensed the concealed malice because his face drained of color.
“Who are you?” the stranger slurred, as though anything more would use up too much energy and he had very little to spare. “I don’t remember you.”
Neither Rin nor Rayve moved.
The man scratched his head and answered the question himself. “Ah, must be the Hunters they told me about.” He let out a sound between a sigh and a groan. “How bothersome.”
The air between them smoldered. A sharp killing intent but with nothing in sight.
“Who are you?” Rin finally asked. She realized her palms were damp. She was also suddenly aware of her heart pounding in her ears.
The man moved with surprising agility. One moment he was five feet from them, the next he was directly in front of Rayve. “This person. That person. Instructions. Orders. How troublesome.” His eyes glazed over, and a bored, bothered look crossed his face. “Why does everyone want to disturb my nap?”
He peered into Rayve’s white face as though he could find the answer.
“Heart,” he muttered, words running over each other. “Trade heart. Wishes for heart. Heart. Him and the heart.”
A crazed look took over his eyes. “Are you reminding me that I don’t have one?”
He held his palm over Rayve’s face.
Four fingers.
Rayve’s eyes went wide as he stood frozen, lips half-parted in shock.
Rin’s body reacted before her mind told her to. Pushing Rayve out of the way, she felt the stranger’s hand come down on her shoulder, piercing through her skin like blades.
A sharp flash of pain shot through her senses as she flung a knife at him from close range.
He dodged it with ease and withdrew his hand, sending droplets of red flying.
She stumbled, dots flying across her vision, blood running down the length of her arm.
“Elziel!”
She glared at Rayve. “Do you have a death wish?”
What kind of speed did the man possess?
Rin was taught how to judge an opponent within the first five seconds of an encounter. She knew her limits. He was just standing there, flexing his neck, fingers smeared with her blood, and she knew that he was dangerously powerful, way above her capabilities.
He could kill them within a blink.
She realized that her question to Rayve was obsolete.
There was no way they could escape the man’s pursuit.
Out of desperation than anything else, she flung two knives in his direction.
He dodged the first almost lazily, and the second nicked a strand of his hair.
Rayve took advantage of his momentary distraction to activate his ability. Rin’s knives changed direction mid-air and whizzed straight toward the back of the man’shead.
The man tilted himself backward, and the blades hurtled an inch above his nose into the opposite wall.
The ground cracked beneath his feet, and the earth particles floated in response to Rayve’s ability. The stranger vanished from the spot and reappeared next to Rayve, kicking him across the face.
Both the twins were thrown across the ground.
“Hayle…” Rayve reached for his brother.
The man stepped on his hand. There was a crack, and Rayve cried out in pain.
“Why won’t you stop moving?” the man drawled. “Need to end this. Want to sleep.”
Rin closed the distance between them, blade in her hands, aiming for his neck.
It happened so fast that she had no time to react.
A force knocked her into a wall, and she tasted blood on her lips. His hands closed around her neck, pinning her to the spot.
He had not even shifted his feet– Rayve’s hand still trapped.
Rin had never felt so powerless.
Perhaps enticed by the scent of blood, the Seed lurking in the background began to move earnestly. In between the lines of her fading consciousness, she felt shadows emerging from the walls, wrapping themselves around her and dragging her in.