Chapter 12 - Beneath The Cloudfall, Shadows Crept Forth

“Hurry up and kill him.” Kaino told Thunder with stern authority.

Pouria couldn’t understand why Kaino was alive, despite Thunder clearly stating otherwise seconds ago. The lying wrestler, still with a boot stamped to his chest, moved his vision between Pouria’s old friend and Pouria himself. He was clearly just as confused on what to do in that moment.

Thunder pressed his boot down harder, the weight of half his body squashing Pouria’s ribcage. Suffocating, sputtering, Pouria squirmed to keep his eyes open. But not to stare at his would-be killer.

No, he wanted to see what his friend had become. Was this man truly Kaino anymore? What had two years done to the scientist he trusted and relied on?

“Stop playing with this husk. I’ve given you more than enough time.” Kaino said with cruelty in his tone, his smoke clutching Osefin tighter. “This wretched animal crawled into my laboratory, which wouldn’t have happened if you didn’t have all of your guards fawning over your physical form and your tasteless movie production.”

Thunder said nothing, lost in thought. Pouria could tell he didn’t want it to end.

Kaino shook his head, putting on his beaked mask and stepping forward. “That man should be dead. He is only blinding you with his tricks. He believes not in our Angel, he wants to pull you away from your purpose, as he once did to me.”

He was one of them. They had converted him. They had blinded him.

Pouria couldn’t see his friend anymore behind the mask. He saw a monster hung upon The Exodus Angel’s marionette strings.

“You don’t have to kill him. I see now that he isn’t as weak as we thought, we can let him go.” Thunder replied, removing his boot from Pouria’s chest. Pouria could sense that something had changed in the wrestler, he couldn’t see what, but the Thunder that was in this room minutes ago wouldn’t have ever let him free.

“You can’t.” Kaino replied as Pouria stood up, only to see Kaino approaching closer. “The Angel wants him dead, you aren’t allowed to decide whether he lives or dies.”

“And since when did you become his mouthpiece, Doomsayer?”

Kaino was dead. Pouria knew that now. Thunder was no liar, he was only warning him of the man that his friend had become.

“Because he told me to come here and make sure this was handled correctly. You are handling this like the blind fool you are, like an insane person in an asylum, like the man everyone believes me to be.” Doomsayer said.

Thunder paused for a moment when he heard that. He chuckled, and then he laughed, and then the room was filled with his uproarious guffaw. Even his goons gave him odd looks. As it petered out, he glared at Kaino with a relaxed look on his face. “Look mate, I’ve been with you maggots because you promised me that your dumbfuck angel would lead us somewhere great! But from where I stand now, I see that you just want to oppress my, and everyone else’s free will! You want me to be the angel’s little bitch, his little subservient assistant! And that wasn’t the deal.”

“You dare speak of your savior like that?!” Kaino shouted, his face filled with shock.

“Both of you are so braindead.” Thunder said with another laugh, glancing at Pouria too. “I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again… I don’t need you to save me!”

Kaino scoffed at the accusation. “You aren’t special, Thunder. The Angel saves only the loyal, and it seems you’ve taken your position as a traitor. I’ll grant you your wish. Thou shall not be saved.”

“Fine by me!” Thunder laughed like the death threat was a joke. He turned to Pouria with a warm smile. He’d never seen Thunder look at him like this… He hadn’t seen this look on anyone’s face, really.

“Show me that you aren’t weak and fight with me. If we win this, our rivalry is done.”

Pouria felt pain all over. After being crushed right on his bandaged wound, beaten up, electrocuted, and traumatized by seeing his friend like this, there was no way he could go on. But he couldn’t imagine a world where he wasn’t about to beat the ever-living fuck out of Doomsayer. There were no amount of injuries that were going to stop him from saying “Thank you, Thunder.”.

Kaino shrugged. “Oh, Pouria. I should’ve known you’d be like this, begging for my help the moment you came back. But The Angel told me that another you would return, and not to fall for his lies and deception. That is all you are, isn’t it? A demon. Here to stray me from my righteous, enlightened course.”

“Kaino, I beg of you, if there is anything of the man you once were left inside of your soul, please don’t make me do this.” Pouira begged, but he summoned The Bear anyway, his soul knowing that his old friend was a faceless husk in the arms of The Angel.

“Spare me the theatrics, doppelganger,” Kaino sneered back. “I’ve had enough of those from your faithless new friend. I will erase your tarnished legacy so that the true Pouria shall live unhaunted by the likes of you, ghost. That is all, and this is the end.”

Madness, pure madness. This ‘true Pouria’ he spoke of was a product of it, surely. Pouria at least hoped it was.

“I told you, Pouria. Kaino is dead.” Thunder said.

“Not yet he isn’t.” Pouria replied.

“To me, Stormcloud!” Thunder cried out, and his men drew their firearms upon the shadowy figure.

“You’ll be of use to us, Doctor.” Kaino told the now-unconscious Osefin, casting him aside with a flick of his wrist. His shadows swirled, blocking bullets and restraining Osefin against a wall in a single motion as their master moved forward. They danced around, joyous, playful, but controlled with a methodical order as they flew at the retreating members of the Stormcloud. Everyone who opposed Kaino quickly discovered their weapons were useless against the might of his Soulflare, their bullets blocked easily by his shadows.

“He is more powerful than both of our flares… far more.” Pouria gasped, moving backward but keeping a firm gaze on the shadowy clouds, all like smoky tendrils leading back to Kaino. He counted four of them, two on his arms, two on his upper back, twisting out to envelop and pick off the members of the Stormcloud. Screaming filled the room as their bones snapped and cracked, strangled to death. Thunder winced, knowing he had to wait for a window to open before he could attack, but Pouria knew his crew’s deaths were dire to him.

“He is predictable. I am watching how he fights. It is methodical, not creative at all, like he’s following a script.” Thunder said, anger in his tone.

“Then we fuck his script and fight how we want.” Pouria said, feeling the steps of the stage behind his legs, nearly falling over them, but Thunder caught him.

“Imagine what a badass you could’ve been if you’d invited me to train you instead of insulting my life’s work, hmm?” Thunder chuckled uncomfortably, still watching for the angle he was waiting for.

“I’d be a prick like you.” Pouria replied. “I still don’t like you much, don’t push your welcome.”

“Heh, okay then, Pouria.”

As they ascended the steps, the Stormcloud still firing from their flanks, Kaino moved slowly toward them, clearly studying their movements too. Two of his shadowy tendrils flexed outward from him, smashing equipment to look threatening and blocking off all escape routes. Pouria and Thunder had their backs up to the metaphorical and physical wall as they crossed the stage. And despite the gunfire forcing Kaino to have to block shots with his other two tendrils, no window had opened yet.

“He’ll try to attack us, but he can only use one tendril, or else my guys can run around behind him. Whoever isn’t getting attacked has to be the one who hits hard and fast, kay?” Thunder explained, his words masked to Kaino under the rapturous gunfire.

Pouria nodded. “Just don’t get killed,” he said. “Okay?”

Thunder nodded as well, watching as Kaino put his first foot upon the stairs. The duo were now pushed up against the back wall of the stage, but Kaino couldn’t come closer, as he would then be flanked by the surviving members of the Stormcloud. He was close enough to kill them regardless, however. So, he wasted no time in launching a single tendril toward Pouria’s throat.

Thunder lunged forward the instant Kaino made the motion, ducking beneath another tendril as it attempted to slap him away and block a shot at the same time. It failed at both. Thunder struck him with a fist flaring with electric energy, right beside where the bullet hit his chest. Kaino’s body shook, but it didn’t move an inch.

Pouria dodged from the tendril as it looped back around to defend its master from further damage. It coiled around Thunder as he yelled, his crew firing more carefully now so as to not hit him.

Kaino, now with Thunder in his grasp, seemed to think it would be easy to crush him, but his struggling face quickly showed difficulty dealing with the man who was twice his size. Thunder grimaced, growling like a mad dog as his flare’s power protected his body in a thin layer of electric power across his skin, but Pouria knew it wouldn’t last long.

Thinking quickly and somewhat rashly, Pouria commanded the fast Bear to swoop in and strike where he couldn’t, while he played distraction. He saw the statue of the angel beside him, it gazed at him still with a hollow glare.

“You are going to die next.” He muttered to it, knowing it could hear him in that moment. He ran to the statue, and began to toss the generous offerings around it at Kaino. Lots of ornate items had been given to it by the Stormcloud. Heavy candlesticks and lanterns seemed to be quite popular. Perfect for hurling at a madman.

Kaino was indeed suitably distracted, at least one of his tentacles was, swatting the objects away like the bullets. But despite Pouria’s best efforts, The Bear still couldn’t find any opening. He had too many tentacles… Controlling them all with what felt like four separate brains.

But Pouria then realized his strength was also his weakness. If he overwhelmed him, he would easily get confused. He knew that too well.

Stolen story; please report.

Pouria prematurely flew The Bear forward, drawing the ire of one of the tendrils. He then tossed another candlestick for him to block, and then ran forward himself.

Now, Pouria could see that Kaino was faced with several tasks, like a formula with too many steps. Block bullets with two tendrils from either side, whilst blocking a candlestick aimed directly at his head. Stop the two attackers from assaulting head on, and continue to kill Thunder with another tendril.

He only had one tendril free to use, and it could only stop one of the attackers with the speed at which they were going. He chose Pouria as the target, the tendril forming into a blade that aimed directly at his chest…

“Die.”

The tendril flew forward and skewered its target.

Pouria only felt a light pain in his chest though. He absorbed his flare back inside him, feeling unstoppable in that single, exhilarating moment, like nothing had even hurt him.

Kaino hadn’t skewered Pouria. No. The tendril struck The Bear. He couldn’t tell the two apart at all. It was like they were the same person. A man and his flare so inseparable that his enemies couldn’t tell them apart. He couldn’t understand why, but he just… couldn’t… As he realized his wrong choice, the candlestick flew right into his masked face, and Pouria’s fist followed up beautifully a second later.

Square in the nose. Checkmate.

As he flew backward with an inhuman amount of force, falling off the stage as his tendrils moved in to wrap him like a shield, Thunder was freed. Pouria still felt pain across his whole body when the tendril had struck his flare, but it only caught up to him now after the moment of both euphoria and uncomfortability that he had taken down his old friend.

Thunder shook his pain off in an instant however, knowing the fight wasn’t over until Kaino was dead. He watched his squad intelligently conserving bullets, firing in turns to make sure Kaino couldn’t unleash any of his tentacles again without taking a bullet.

“You think his flare is powerful enough to resist bullets entirely?” Thunder asked. “He easily took a couple hundred rounds.”

“Probably just his flare. His body should still be vulnerable. I hope.” Pouria replied, looking at Kaino on the floor, curled up in a ball, probably planning something to get himself out of this. Pouria knew that waiting would be stupid. “We need to act now,” he added. “As much as I hate to say it, he’s too far gone.”

“I know he was your best friend.” Thunder said. “I’ll kill him for you if you can’t go through with it.”

Pouria finally had a moment to think, but not a lengthy one. Seeing his friend like this, in a position of weakness, and yet so broken inside… it wasn’t easy to know what to do. Could he be fixed? Probably not. But Pouria knew that maybe… just maybe he could be. Maybe he was possessed, or haunted, or maybe just was being bribed by The Angel. Either one was possible, but in this moment, a substantial part of his mind knew Kaino had to die. He didn’t have time to decide why Kaino was like this… it was kill or be killed. Nothing more.

“Do it.” Pouria said in a bitter, mournful tone. “I can’t watch.”

Thunder wasted no time. He held his inner wrists together, thrusting them forth to launch a stream of lightning toward Kaino. The scientist’s body convulsed and shook, the tendrils flailing to reveal holes in his protection that bullets began to fly through.

Pouria couldn’t help but peek, though. He saw Kaino’s face for a split second, one of pain and sorrow. It was Kaino, not Doomsayer. The same one that promised to look after the city while Pouria was in exile.

It looked finished. Kaino’s body was riddled and shot over a hundred times before he finally lay still on the floor, tentacles retreating back within his limbs, his form collapsing as Thunder gave the order to stop firing.

“It’s done, Pouria.” Thunder announced. “I’m sorry it had to come to this.”

“Check his heartbeat. We’ve gotta confirm if he’s…” Pouria said, his words trailing off as he stared at the body on the floor…

It twitched.

They were fooled.

Thunder was already in motion. Pouria couldn’t yell for him to stop before the wrestling star was skewered upon one of the tendrils, his blood flying out his back, splattering across the floor. Kaino stood up, blocking the shots once more from the now aghast members of the Stormcloud, firing with reckless abandon.

But Thunder wasn’t Kaino’s target.

He moved forward with a swift motion that Pouria could barely even react to, grasping him with a tendril, strangling and pulling him along with him. On his way out the door, Kaino grabbed Osefin too and tossed Thunder away.

Pouria knew that killing Thunder wasn’t his old friend’s goal here. It was the two of them that would have their reckoning now.

Kaino ran through the halls of the asylum, two of his tendrils carrying the two men as the others assisted his movement. He twisted through corridors, and now that most of the Stormcloud were now in panic trying to save their boss, they didn’t give chase.

After passing through a dingy mess hall, and one more dank hallway, Kaino busted through a door into a laboratory.

It was just like his old one, down to the details. Meticulously organized countertops on every side of the room, a couple odd gadgets, and chemistry equipment, all surrounding a rectangular island in the center. Nothing decorative, just a simple, small, and yet well-used room. It was Kaino’s little world, a blast of sorrowful nostalgia to his weary friend.

The scientist tossed Osefin aside, still unconscious. He still held Pouria tightly, ragefully, but with a passive, uncaring feeling. He let his tendril handle him while he searched through drawers. He removed a syringe, sticking a tube in one end of it that connected to a black serum in a blood-bag. He filled it and felt his arm for a nerve, retracting a tendril into himself to reveal his gloved hand. He found a vein quite quickly, seemingly knowing himself well, and jabbed the serum into him.

“What does it do?” Pouria asked, trying to reach the scientist he knew within Kaino.

“It will protect me from the machine.” he said dully. “I am removing your stolen Soulflare using the power of my own.”

“Stolen? What do you mean?”

“The Angel said you’d be confused.” Kaino huffed. “But I am simply returning it to the man you stole it from. I do not need to explain myself to the likes of you.”

Kaino then leaned over to the other side of the desk and removed something that Pouria knew was coming, but didn’t want to see.

Kaino had once seen the device as a hazard, a danger that shouldn’t be used. Pouria agreed wholeheartedly with him after seeing it in action. The tight leather straps for adhering it to the user's chest, a thick glass chamber with an auto-sealing lid for containing a specimen, and a metal coil aiming out toward the weapon’s victim and stealing their very essence; their Soul.

Pouria had only seen it used once. He never wanted to see the machine be fired again. From the speed and efficiency at which Kaino was able to apply it to himself, it looked like he did, and had fired it before many times.

“You wouldn’t dare use the Messis Machine on me.” Pouria said, breathless as Kaino’s tendril pinned him to the wall.

“You are an insolent clone, one that fought back against the regime of our angel. Anyone who stands against us with a Soulflare must be purged before extermination.” Kaino said, emotionless, methodical. “One more for the collection.”

“You are collecting soulflares?!” Pouria exclaimed.

“Messis, in the tongue of the ancients, means ‘Harvest’. I named the machine that because I always knew its purpose. I always knew how it would be used. And yet you didn’t like it… at least at first. I can see you don’t share the same sentiment as the real Pouria. Pity.”

“Who is the other Pouria? How do you know I am not the real one?” Pouria pleaded, breath shaky, heart pounding, tears nearly streaming from his eyes, knowing that this might be the end.

“I frankly don’t care who you are.” Kaino replied. “Goodbye, faker.”

Kaino pressed the switch on the side of the machine, energy surging through it and into him. It first was a trickle, and then his body shook as it went into full power, locking onto Pouria’s chest area with a red laser. Pouria could hear its cold, mechanical parts begin to whir and whiz. The noise was not soft, but not loud either, just enough to fill the room with its freakish aura of imminent death.

Pouria remembered the blank whiteness of that poor woman’s eyes after she was hit by the leeching beam, her body squirmed and struggled, vomited and pissed itself, bled out of its eyes, her pain continued even into death, everlasting pain, everlasting trauma. She died, but she wasn’t really dead. Her soul sat in the machine. Pouria wondered if she could see her own body, dead in the chair, as it slumped over, slack jawed, covered in bodily extremities.

Even if she was a vile criminal, a weak woman with weak self control, causing harm to so many others, they were the true criminals for what they had done to her.

Only three men knew of what happened that awful day, and one was about to relive the experience, and another one already had an unknown number of times, and he seemed to not care.

Pouria could see the Doomsayer’s eyes fill with pure pupil, like he could see nothing in the darkness, and yet his eyes begged to watch. They wanted every second of it caught in his memory.

The noises became louder, but they felt like a distant memory. The only thing that mattered was the weapon aimed at a breathless Pouria, as he began to shake when the beam hit his chest. It felt like his insides were being scrambled like eggs in a pan, pureed like fruit in a blender.

But then it stopped.

The sound continued, but Pouria’s soul settled. And yet, he still heard pain being delivered. He felt a body collapse onto his. It felt cold and dead. The sounds suddenly stopped.

The door opened. Furious footsteps, a struggle taking place, a scream of pain.

Pouria couldn’t see or speak, smell or taste, but he could listen.

The body that had just collapsed on top of him… It wasn’t weak, it wasn’t spineless, it was alive.

It had saved him.

If Pouria could speak, he would have muttered…

“Thank you… Fallen Star.”