Arno ripped his arm out of the deceased Rosarian and began yelling out to us.
“Get away! Something intense is coming!”
“How do you know?!” The words left my mouth before I could even think about them. After all, Arno doesn’t have a sensory-enhancing stemata. And sure, he overclocked it, but the overclock doesn’t give him the ability to heighten his senses. So how—
The entrance of the museum had multiple bleeding arms burst through the doors to the point of breaking and widening the entrance. The various body parts and intestines were rushing in and engulfing the room and Gollie took Anna, Jack, and the kid out through the open wall Arno made earlier. I immediately began rushing for the same exit, dodging and creating openings with my stemata, but the sheer volume of the attack was increasing by the second. What the hell even is this? I looked over to Daniel and realized that his dead body was still standing with a hole in his chest and his stemata glowing red in his right hand. There’s no way…he overclocked his stemata that reverses death and used it on himself?! What would something like that even look like?! Who am I kidding, I’m seeing the result right now! Everyone else will be fine. As it stands, I’m the person most likely to—
Oh…it’s too late…
I looked back over to the encroaching body parts and realized they were directly in front of me.
“ORIIIIII!” Arno yelled out for me, but I was already worlds away from this moment. Is this what it’s like to see your life flash before your eyes?
===
When I was a child, I watched on as my father and mother handled their business. They couldn’t spend too much time with me, but I never really minded. Less time with them meant more time with Tau. He was our bodyguard and my caretaker. He would entertain me no matter what shenanigans my imagination could conjure up.
“Tau, I need your help building a horse to take us to the moon!”
“Yes ma’am!”
“Tau, I’m gonna go to the bottom of the ocean today! Help me!”
“Yes, milady!”
“Tau!...Can you help me reach those cookies on the shelf?”
“You’ve already eaten dessert, ma’am. I’m afraid I can’t do that for you.”
Even though they were important people, they never threw their weight around and always did their job with a smile. My parents, Tau, and I were a family of smiles…
The only time these smiles broke was at the beginning of the fall of Haustoria.
“ORI, YOU HAVE TO MOVE!”
“HAKIM THERE’S NO TIME! JUST CARRY HER!”
As that mist encompassed everything my parents wanted to protect, they put me on a horse with Tau and sent me on my way. They didn’t know where to, but they definitely didn’t want me staying there.
The more Tau and I traveled, the more severe the situation looked. It got to the point where we had to ditch the horse due to it making too much noise. If he heard a single gunshot or scream we left the area as soon as possible.
The mist settling didn’t make matters any better for us. Because the chain of command was broken all over the country. Chaos ensued as constant power grabs took place over Haustoria.
It didn’t take long for the weight of the situation to finally crush him.
“Tau…?”
In the dead of night, Tau pointed his sword at me.
“Molan said that if I bring your head to him. I’ll be safe to join his tribe. He’ll even give me a leading position.”
I was stunned, I couldn’t move. After everything we’ve been through, he would betray me for a bit of fame? For status?
As he moved closer to me, I screamed out for help. For my mother, my father, for any of the townspeople that we left behind all those months ago, and I finally called out for Hami.
“SHUT UP! HAMI HAS ABANDONED US! WE’RE IN A LIVING HELL AND IN THIS NIGHTMARE, I INTEND TO SECURE A SAFE LIVING.”
I could feel it at that moment. My heart that was open and accepting became frozen to the reality of the world around me. At the age of seven, I became familiar with the indifference the world had towards me, and accepted it. If I were ever to survive this moment, I would never put my faith in another person again.
But then those feelings changed…
He raised his sword and I shielded myself with my arms, bracing for death to come, but it didn’t. I didn’t even feel any pain. I opened my eyes to see Tau fighting someone…and losing.
This person wasted no time or effort disarming Tau and killing him with his own weapon.
While he did so, he wore a face of determination and fury with each strike. He only changed his expression into a smile when he stopped and our eyes met.
“Why…?” These were the only words that escaped my lips.
“Why? Because my mom said if a girl needs help, I help her. What’s your name?”
Although he interpreted it that way, I didn’t ask why he saved me. It was a cacophony of things I was questioning: why was I put in this situation? Why did my parents have to die? Why did Tau betray me? Why were our smiles taken away?
It was such a rapid change of pace, I didn’t know how to react other than telling him my name.
“Ori…”
“Nice to meet you, Ori! I don’t really meet kids my age as much! My name’s Arno!”
That bright and warm smile melted away at the barriers that I wanted to put up. Sure, I would still hold hostility toward a stranger or someone I barely knew, but for some reason, in a moment of desperation, I wanted to put my faith in someone…
===
No! I can’t give up. He finally admitted it. All that time we spent together, he loved me! When I froze the gates to my heart, he fell for me and kept by my side. All that time…
My eyes began to well up as I searched through all of my memories—all of our memories— for an escape with the abilities within my reach…but I can’t help thinking about all of the time I spent with Arno…his warmth is like the sun. Burning and searing through all of my memories and leaving his impression on each and every moment. I can’t help but want to spend the rest of my days with him!
So I have to survive!
My eyes darted around my immediate vicinity for anything that could help and I saw a crystal of a familiar stemata on the ground. My thoughts immediately began to cycle as I came to a risky but possible solution. God I hope this works…
I fired a cryoshot in front of me to stop the incoming rush of arms. I already know that it isn’t going to last for long. My plan is to just delay it long enough for me to pick this stemata crystal up!
I threw my sniper stemata to the side. As much as I would love to carry it with me, the reaction would end with me blowing up due to the conflicting stematas.
I grabbed the crystal and extended my arm toward the rushing wave of body parts and was thrusted to the back of the room and quickly enveloped by this attack. The gore and blood suffocated me more and more. I had no choice but to steady my breathing and hope that I was using the stemata correctly and as efficiently. From what I know, it has two functions: to absorb living things and objects, and to expel those things. However, it needs a vessel to do those things. The previous one was that mask, but in this scenario, I’m using my arm as one. I can’t remember reading about a scenario of this being done, so it might end up horribly, but I don’t have a choice!
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
Crack
Regardless of the faint glow my stemata was given, and the feeling that the suffocating space I was in was getting smaller every couple of seconds, the space would shrink in size twice as fast, and my bones began to crack. Damn it! Keep a cool head, Ori. You’ve done all you could. At this point, all you need to do is rely on…
Arno
Debris, glass, and dirt exploded in different directions as I flew far enough out of the radius and looked at the monstrosity that Daniel Rosarian has become. It was a giant mass of rotting flesh and pus that had countless tendrils on all sides flailing about. Ori’s in there somewhere! I want to pummel Daniel, but I don’t want to accidentally hurt or even kill Ori. Damn…we’re at a stalemate.
“Arno!” I heard a voice call out to me and looked at the ground to see Anna trying to get my attention. I descended and Anna promptly stabbed me with her stemata. I jolted back a bit and as I did, she apologized. “Oh sorry, I forgot to warn you. Here’s the plan: I’ll use my stemata, shoot it in there, and find Ori. As soon as my stemata connects, I’ll connect your senses to Ori’s so you know what to avoid.”
“Have you even done anything like that before?” Rono narrowed his eyes in doubt.
“There’s a first for everything.” Anna said with a shaky voice and smile as she aimed her stemata at the raging mass of flesh and fired a shot of her flesh at it. It made contact and immediately burrowed into the monster. This is a good plan and all, but it’s starting to move closer and closer. We can stall it out until Anna finds Ori, but if we stall for too long, we risk taking the fight to one of the emergency centers.
As if reading my mind, Gollie gave a thumbs up and slapped Rono in the back “Don’t worry, buddy! We’ll hold the line as long as possible.”
“W-we will?!” Rono’s eyes widened.
“The range for your stemata goes far, right?” I asked Anna and she simply shrugged her shoulders while giving a forced smile.
…
Good enough for me! It’s do or die here!
I propelled in an arc away from the immediate battle and landed on the nearest emergency shelter. In the distance, I watched as debris and smoke clouds drifted closer and closer to the shelter. As I paid more attention to the battle, I noticed Gollie’s enlarged arms slapping away any tendrils that attempted its advance. It was a bit harder to spot Rono’s staff every so often, but I saw it there too. Everyone was doing their best. Hopefully I can pull my own weight too…
I heard the muffled sounds below me and when I looked, I saw a crowd of people under the glass ceiling I was standing on. Some were pointing with looks of disbelief on their faces. Others a look of confusion. The overall consensus of the crowd though, was fear for the unknown. With the rumbling sound of Daniel Rosarian approaching I wondered: how am I supposed to make them feel safe? How am I supposed to shed light on the dark situation they’re in—
Fwap
“W-what the?!” Some huge piece of cloth wrapped around me and I quickly wrestled it off. At this rate, everyone below is going to be more worried than relaxed. When I finally got the piece of cloth off of me, I pulled it away from my face to get a better look at it. When I finally understood what I was holding, I smiled.
What I held was a flag of a silver shield gilded with a red outline. Behind this shield was a background of blue that represented the waters that surrounded the land that was being shielded: I was holding the Holian flag.
I know exactly what to do. I took the flag directly off of its pole and tied it directly to me, making a sort of makeshift cape. That’s right. The type of CT I want to be is like a superhero. I want to smile in the face of adversity. That’s what Mr. Fancy taught me after all.
Daniel’s monstrous form looked as if it was picking up speed. If that’s the case, then that means that…no. They didn’t lose. And even if they did, they wouldn’t die. My friends are stronger than that!
I prepared my fist and prepared the Declaration of execution:
“Let it be known, Daniel Rosarian. I, Arno Achebe of The BCT have deemed you and everyone aligned with you terrorists! Due to this, you are to be executed on the spot! May whatever God you believe in have mercy upon you in the afterlife!”
Not that I expected Daniel to suddenly stop and rethink his life decisions, but he didn’t even slow down one bit. He’s gotten so close, I was beginning to worry that Anna wasn’t able to figure out how to use her stemata. As it inched closer and closer, I prepared my fist. My mind was going back and forth between swinging regardless of Ori being in there and just waiting with the cost of the lives in the emergency shelter. Either way, it’s an immense loss that I can’t possibly choose between! I…I—
At that moment, it was like a stroke of lightning flashed in my head. I felt an extra leg move and writhe around at a specific point in the mass. It was a weird sensation that I’ve never felt before, but I was certain of it: That’s Ori! The win condition has been set! I really do have some strong, reliable comrades!
“BLAZING SOUL!” As the bulbous head of the beast came crashing with me being the only thing between it and the innocent civilians below, I swung my fist and made that first moment of contact so impactful that it recoiled. But I wasn’t done there.
“OVERCLOCK! ONE HIT K.O.!”
I never really had a chance to see what my aptitude score was. After all, the show that I put on in zone two was enough to display my ability to use stematas. Because of that, I immediately went into getting my stemata. But the more I used it, the more I realized that I have some sort of attunement with it. Everything just feels…right when I use it. That’s why I was willing to hunch that I was able to do this! It’s an ability that allows me to omit the action of whatever I do and just leave the result. It has an effective range, so I can’t just hit someone from across the country. I did it with Enyeto, Danny before he transformed, and now, I omitted an entire barrage of punches strong enough to reduce the monster in front of me into sparse pieces that exploded and landed onto some of the trees nearby.
Ori was also completely intact thanks to Anna’s direction. I jumped off of the building and caught her in my arms, using my stemata to slowly drift us to the ground.
“I knew…you could do it.” She said between breaths.
“You’re crazy, you know that?!” I began to chuckle as I held onto her. I also noticed a large black line that spiraled around her arm all the way to the back of her hand. “Cool tattoo.” I joked.
“You think so? Maybe I’ll keep it, then.”
Ori and I then noticed a slimy blob very slowly gathering itself. I made a large enough blow to stop the majority of its regeneration, but I guess that wasn’t enough.
“We’ll just have to contain him or something. He’s no longer dead or alive. He’s just a mindless zombie with hatred as his only motivator. He shouldn't be as much of a threat anymore…”
“Then we’ll take it from here.” A deep voice could be heard from the depths of the forest. Three silhouettes then made their appearance known. The first was a man in a cheetah mask. He had a bomber jacket and black jeans with a chain near the pocket. The other was a short girl with a white bunny mask. She wore a white crop top with brown bell bottoms. The final one was a tall man in a deer mask with a suit. These three were none other than members of the disaster terrorist group known as Anima. And we were in the presence of their leader.
“I am Deer, the leader of Anima. Perhaps you heard of me?”
“I’m Bunny!”
“Cheetah.”
“Next you’re gonna tell me you guys have someone named Bear with a bear mask.” Ori rolled her eyes. The Bunny and Cheetah briefly exchanged looks while their leader continued.
“You all have fought well and deserve some rest. We’ll take the Rosarian with us.”
“Look, if you think we’re just going to let you waltz in and do what you please, you’ve got another thing coming—”
“A third option.”
“Huh?” I raised an eyebrow.
“Throughout this battle it seems you have adopted the creed ‘it’s either us or them’ to make peace with what you had to do, but what if I told you that we were the third option? A means in which the Rosarian family does not have to lose another soul?”
What?
Ori clarified “He’s trying to say that they’ll take care of Danny without trying to kill him. Most likely by rehabilitating him. I don’t see how such a thing would even be possible though…”
“Either way,” Deer continued “You lot are in no condition to continue your battle. Besides, even if you were, we would come out as the victors. I’m only doing the decency of keeping you informed on what’s about to happen.”
“How gracious of you…” Ori’s voice carried several layers of sarcasm. She saw me narrowing my eyes, trying to get a read on how to handle the situation so we came out on top, but she just sighed and said “Let them go, Arno.”
“What?! But…Danny!”
“He’s not kidding. We’re in no shape to fight anyone let alone the leader of one of the four disasters. We’ll just have to report the events as they are. Logistically, it makes no sense for us to throw our lives away on a surefire loss. I’m certain any higher-up reading our report would understand that.”
“We appreciate your cooperation.” Deer said as Cheetah scooped up as many parts of Danny they could visibly see into a clear jar.
“Wait!” We all heard a voice from the forest and as we turned, we saw Jack rushing towards the jar. Without any fear, he ran towards the members of Anima and put his hand on the jar. “Danny! I’m sorry I made you feel like you had to do this. I’m sorry you felt like you had to shoulder all the pain of the Rosarians! I’m sorry that I ran away from it all that day! It’s just…In a way, we were both doing what we thought best.”
“You…” Danny produced a mouth with the confines of the jar. “Why the hell didn’t you follow me that day?! We were family, weren't we?! We stick together no matter how deep of a hole we find ourselves in! But no! You left me! You’re a disgrace to the Rosarians. I wish you were never born my little brother, you waste of space!”
Jack hung his head low while everyone quietly listened to Danny spit his words of hatred at his brother.
Everyone except for me. I put Ori down and rushed over as he kept going.
“You’re no brother of mine—Hey! Stop that!” Daniel realized that I had my hands over Jack’s ears. “He has to hear it all! He has to hear my true feelings!”
“These aren’t your true feelings…I won’t allow him to hear anymore of you at your worst. Maybe one day…you can meet again and you can tell him how you really feel. For now though, it’s best if things end here…” I said.
“Well said, Arno Achebe,” Deer said. “Now then, we’ll be off. I’m very excited to see how you all advance as counter-terrorists.” Deer turned around with the others and retreated back into the depths of the forest.
“Thank goodness…” As soon as we were in the clear, I dropped my arms to the side and made my way over to Ori. After all that fighting, we finally did our first job as CTs. It almost makes you forget that we’ve been fighting all night…and that I did something as strenuous as overclocking my….stemata…
“Arno? Arnooooo!”